Too Far Back
by Papa Sasuke
Summary: Zoro and Sanji accidentally travel back in time to the War of the Best, and soon realize there's no turning back. While meeting up with Luffy and his friends, they form a plan with only two things on their mind: save Ace and kick some asses. It was a great opportunity, too; no one has seen either of their full powers yet; time to show off a little. (Time Travel AU; Marineford)
1. Arrival at Marineford

**Too Far Back**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece :/**

 **What I have in mind for this story, is pretty much funnies, fights, and lots of scenes with the badass Monster Trio. I literally came up with this idea from a dream I had so idk how it's going to turn out or if you guys will like it. Yeah, I'm steering a bit away from Naruto and trying One Piece… so that happened. Also, this is a pretty lengthy chapter and if I were to write more in the future, I don't think the chapters would be this lengthy. Anyway, I'll stop rambling.**

 **Enjoy. :3**

 **Chapter 1: Arrival at Marineford**

 **-xXx-**

 _ **Prologue**_

"Oi, oi, Nami, are you sure this is a good idea?" The long-nosed man balanced his elbows on his knees with his stiff hands held his head, a concerned look spread deeply across his face as he gazed up questionably at the long, orange-haired navigator.

Nami swung her head around, her hair following her while she casually fit together her revised Clima Tact. She smiled, "No, but if we succeed, we'll be able to travel through time."

"What?" Usopp's jaw dropped horrifically and his face turned blue, while a racoon-dog bounced up to the Clima Tact, watching Nami change it with sparkles in his eyes, "That's awesome, Nami!" Chopper fantasized, his eyes large with fascination and interest.

From behind, a man with a suit and tie clasped his hands together, pink hearts replacing his eyes as he sped up next to the navigator, "Ahh, Nami- _swan_ ; she looks so cute when she's focused!" Sanji cooed preciously, smiling with joy when she shook her head with a smirk as if in acknowledgement to Sanji's swoon.

"Heh," Franky started, a sharp grin appearing on his face as he brought his robotic hand to his nose. Chopper and Usopp watched excitedly as he held down his nose for three seconds, and instantly, a surprise of blue spiked hair popped out, both surprising and scaring the duo, "Ow! Time travel is _super_ cool!"

Brook tipped his hat upwards, revealing his shining skeletonized face, "I wonder what it would look like to time travel…. ah, not that I have eyes though."

"Where would we be heading, navigator?" Robin smiled softly, her walnut-shaped eyes never blinking as they rested upon the occupied navigator, who looked up in interest that suddenly turned to anxiety as she looked the other way.

A large bead of sweat formed at the top of her forehead as she smiled nervously, narrowing her eyes while waving her hand dismissively, "Ahh, I don't really know."

"Ah! She doesn't know!" Chopper's eyes bulged with fear.

Usopp fell with dramatization, "Ahh, that's not good! What if it takes us to the middle of a war?" Tears flowed rapidly down his face like a waterfall as he began to think of all the possibilities that could lead to death in this situation.

Nami sighed restlessly, but she disregarded Usopp's thought when she spotted a certain moss-headed sleeping idiot and another idiot, who would follow her every command. An idea came to her, and it seemed that Robin was the first to recognize it. "Well, that's why we've got these two idiots to test it out for us." She smiled innocently, her words entering both Zoro and Sanji's ears at the same time. Zoro's bubble that had formed at the tip of his nose popped loudly, and he knelt forward, "Huh?" He stated, his eye narrowing with a threatening glare and his eyebrow raising in intimidation.

Sanji instantly ignored the stupid swordsman and raced out to wave beside Nami, "Yes! Anything for you, Nami- _swan_!"

Nami paused, ignoring the two for a minute, and huddled up the crew around her with a wave of her hands. They looked surprised and confused, but most followed her command, since she was the one pretty much calling the shots, anyway, at this point. She looked over her shoulder quickly before pulling back into the huddled group, "Listen, we can't tell Luffy about the time travel either, otherwise he'll want to go too." Nami cupped her hand over her mouth in a whisper as Usopp and Chopper nodded their heads in agreement to the thought of their idiot captain while Franky and Sanji gave a thumbs up, and Robin and Brook smiled, accepting the situation.

"That's sounds like him." Robin laughed, turning to Brook who stood beside her.

"Yo-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho, you're right, Robin-san!" He chuckled heartfully.

Usopp's eyes narrowed, and he looked around him suspiciously, as if time traveling to a war was still in his head. "But then we won't have to fight…" He waved his hand dismissively, but didn't see Nami behind him, a vein popping out of the side of her head.

"No! That could rupture the time line!" She shouted, slamming her fist down on his head while Usopp fell the ground, steam rolling from the bump on his skull.

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't worry, Nami-san! Even if it kills me, I won't let that bastard come near your time portal!" Sanji gave a solute, nearly stepping on Chopper in the process, who leaped back with a yelp of surprise. Completely ignoring Chopper, a smile broke onto Sanji's face at the thought of saving Nami's time portal from their idiot captain, and if she'd love him in return for his heroic deeds.

"Stupid love-cook."

"Huh?"

"Ah, Nami…" Franky began, putting his hand up as if he was putting up his hand to ask a question in a classroom.

Nami had ignored Franky, clearly attempting to hurry up her Clima Tact to prepare for the time travel that she had promised them. Silence filled the short gap between them, not even a sound from the other crew members were heard during that time. Franky's face turned blue with anxiousness and he pointed softly behind her, his voice softening to a whisper, "Oi, Nami-"

"What is it? I'm almost done with the calculations of weather for the time travel!" Nami snapped, shaking her fist full of anger, but Franky kept still. Pausing, his face paled as a bead of sweat formed on his forehead. Zoro and Sanji instantly felt the presence of someone approaching while Chopper, Brook slowly turned around to peer around Nami. Robin smiled, already knowing who was approaching. Nami perked her lips and her face paled as she slowly realized by the look of the crew's face what was behind them.

"AHH, THAT WAS GOOD, HEY!" A loud voice sounded from behind him and she started to sweat furiously. Usopp was sitting next to her, and both slowly turned, eyes focusing on the figure in the distance who had padded his stomach happily.

Luffy paused, his eyes widening as he saw the crew. Jaw dropping as he remembered why had marched all the way back there, he threw his hands in the air in surprise and excitement, ignoring the disbelieving stares of his crew, "HEY, ARE WE REALLY GOING TO TRAVEL THROUGH TIME? TRAF-GUY TOLD ME! AWESOME, WHEN DO WE GO?"

 **-End Prologue-**

 **-xXx-**

Luffy pulled back his fist, sweat rolling down the side of his pale colored face as he stared intensely at the Navy opponents that blocked the path in front of him. Tightening his teeth in anger of their abrupt interference, he gripped the top of his head firmly with his opened left palm, just to ensure that his beloved straw hat didn't blow away with his next attack. Stretching back the opposite arm, he readied his fist for a _Gomu-Gomu no Pistol_ strong enough to blow the stupid Navy soldiers away.

He felt as he could go on for days longer, because of his main objective and motivation that's been egging him on for the entire time. He had broken into Impel Down not so long ago, fought various monsters (that really weren't that hard to beat), battled with the Warden, nearly _died_ , discovered new nakama, and then broke out again. Now, he was here, at Marineford, fighting for the person that he had come for in the first place: his big brother. It was only mere moments ago when Luffy's temporary crew struck down with such an entrance, with the whole ' _flying-navy-ship accident'_ , that even the Navy Admirals and Warlords stood speechless. The Old Man might have come from underwater, and sure, that was surprising, but Luffy had come from the sky, which defied all logic and made the entrance that more powerful.

" _Gomu-Gomu no… Pistol!_ "

Luffy's fist collided directly with the Navy commodore, creating a domino effect as the punch on impact blasted right through the soldier, creating enough force to keep going and knock down ten more others in the process. Fighting and yelling seemed to never end around Luffy, but blocking out the noises didn't seem that hard for the young raven-haired captain. Without thinking, he kicked aside another soldier effortlessly, his dark eyebrows furrowing as he raised his head to the sky and inhaled through his nose as much as he could muster, just to make sure that the one person on his mind heard his pleading call:

"ACE!"

Everyone, including Ace, turned their heads to the boy with the straw hat that stood out amongst the rest of those in battle. Ace's eyes widened with shock and horror while Luffy stopped mid-battle, gaping his mouth with confidence and determination, and throwing both fists back in the air.

"I'VE COME TO SAVE YOU!"

On the execution platform, Garp stood shocked while his anger fumed furiously. He covered his ears with his hands with one hopeful thought that he had misheard the call from his stupid grandson, but instantly disregarded the idea when that idiot continued to battle his way through the Navy. Gritting his teeth with his eyes nearly bulging out of his head, he exclaimed, "LUFFY!"

Sengoku stood with his arms at his side, his teeth clenched tightly as his eyes raised in irritation. Turning to Garp, who looked in just as much shock as everyone else, a vein popped out of the side of the Fleet Admiral's head while he raised his voice in annoyance, "Garp! It's your damn family again!" Sengoku spat and then turned away while Garp nearly gasped again out of shock and despair. Quickly turning to Ace, Sengoku watched as Ace sat paralyzed, his hands behind his back, but nonetheless, gaping in alarm with his eyes frozen in fear for his brother as he made his way closer and closer to the designated execution platform.

A snicker was heard from the opposite side of the battle, and a frown replaced his partial smile that was left on his face, "That damn brat." He murmured confidently under his large, white curved mustache, ending with a small smirk and glint of recognition in his knowing copper-colored eyes.

The Warlords were aligned in a linear order, glaring out with mixed emotions at the sea and Whitebeard's giant fleet. Moria was the first to react to Luffy's entrance, chanting his name bitterly over and over again, reliving his utter defeat back in Thriller Bark. Kuma remained silent and stiff while Boa Hancock stepped forward, her hands on either side of her head in relief and love, gasping when she spotted her beloved, "Luffy! I'm glad you're alright!" She cried, shaking a little when mentioning his name.

Doflamingo smiled malevolently, extending his arms while laughing with true excitement, watching Luffy throw his fist full-force in retaliation to a punch to his side from a Marine officer, "Ha! That's the rookie everyone's talking about, Straw Hat! Oh, this will be fun!"

Mihawk crossed his arms, never blinking his hawk-like eyes when staring at the straw hat boy with nearly no emotion whatsoever, "So that's Straw Hat."

Aokiji, a Navy Admiral, lifted his head off of his hand as if he had been napping out of boredom, and just finally woken up to something that had peaked his interest, "He sure made one hell of a statement."

Kizaru looked on, his eyes widened a bit when they landed upon the boy with the straw hat, his lips perked when he spoke, "Oh, Straw Hat. I didn't think I would get to eliminate him for good so soon."

"Straw Hat…" Akainu whispered menacingly, his hands at his side as the two other Navy Admirals watched him expectantly. Akainu's coal-colored eyes narrowed as he threatenly glared down at the lively battle field, watching Luffy with a darkened glare while he made his way closer to where his goal was. "Just another bug that I have to squash."

 **-xXx-**

Luffy knew that everyone was looking at him now, whether they were fighting or not, but he continued to plow his way through the sea of Marine soldiers without another thought besides the rescue of Ace. He grunted as he planted his sandled foot in a soldier's face and then landed his extended fist into another's, but spun around and narrowingly escaping the sword that had nearly struck him down, cutting a small part of his shirt off his back. _Ah, I gotta get to Ace!_ Throwing his leg around, Luffy swung around and sweeped the surprised captain off his feet, forcing him to throw his sword back several feet behind him. Stepping on his face for a boost while letting out a small simple, "Eop." and ignoring the Navy captain's grunt in pain, Luffy jumped off of his face and soared mid-air, charging back his fists for another _Gomu-Gomu no Gatling._

Suddenly, a crack split the air and all eyes turned to the narrow slit that seemed to be held open mid-air like a doorway. Eyes widened as the new hole broadened over what seemed to be at least a hundred yards away from Luffy. Luffy pulled back his arms to their normal length and landed on the ground without a hard hit, his curiosity was what he was more focused on than fighting any of the Marines that surrounded him. "Huh? What's that?" Luffy wondered aloud, cocking his head in confusion.

What came to mind first was the Old Man's devil fruit that he had exampled before, where he cracked air and somehow made everything shake, which was pretty awesome in Luffy's eyes, but this was something different. Luffy looked over at Old Man Whitebeard, whose eyes were seemingly content on the foreign object hovering mid-air as well. Even the Marines were concerned for what was happening near the sea, debating whether or not it was another attack.

Sengoku's eyes narrowed, expecting more unwanted reinforcements from the opposite side while Garp raised an inquisitive eyebrow, knowing something was indeed different with the situation. The Navy Admirals turned their head towards the glowing rip-like thing in mid-air that was stationed near the sea, and all seemed quite intrigued, or in Akainu's case, vexed, with the new object that seemed to hold promise for the upcoming _War of the Best_.

"Oh, interesting." Kizaru commented excitedly, lowering his yellow sunglasses and standing up for the first time since Whitebeard had arrived.

"What the hell is that?" A puff of white smoke separated and then had combined back together in no less than three seconds to form the broad faced, elite soldier, Captain Smoker.

A girl with glasses and short black hair unsheathed her green sword, lifting it high above her head horizontally, readying herself for a fight, "Smoker-san, what should we do?"

Smoker lifted his lip as he puffed out smoke from his cigar, his eyes narrowing as they scanned the clearing of people; nearly almost all the fighting had stopped. "Nothing."

Without warning, the sudden "rip" in the air made a cracking noise and shrunk partially, sparks erupting and the tear flashing angrily. After the loud crackle, the "crack" went silent and soldiers began to pay less attention to it after a minute, but some were still stricken with wonder and panic as to what the thing. No one wanted to go near it, that was for sure.

"What's going to happen?"

"Is that from Whitebeard?"

"Is that a crack...in the sky?"

"Don't ask me, Todd!"

Another crack and the fighting and howls stopped again. What was going on? Luffy stared sideways at the weird hole and thought about cursing at it, but undoubtedly ignored it somewhat: Ace was his main priority. Yelling, he shot himself forward with his arms and flew over a lot of distracted soldiers, and continued to run towards his brother. "ACE!" He shouted again and eyes were averted back once more to where his main goal was. But something had everyone's focus again.

Turning back to the foreign object, a dark green boot had emerged from the hole... and then shortly after, another. And after the long, dark green boots had emerged, a pair of dark black dress shoes were spotted, appearing from the "crack" in mid-air. Gasps and shouts were heard from around the clearing and Sengoku's eyes widened in surprise and confusion at the weird phenomenon. The Warlords watched with intriguing glares and confused looks when the pair of dress shoes and boots landed on the ground, simultaneously. By landing on the ground, long black pants were revealed as well as what seemed to be a long green dress-robe that had followed shortly after.

"Huh?" Luffy didn't have time for this, but his curiosity was, in fact, getting the best of him. For one split second, he looked over at the rip in the air and what he saw didn't surprise him in the least. All that were there were green and black shoes just emerging from a hole, that could possibly be important, and seemed to literally come out of nowhere… WAIT!

"Oi, Moss-Head! I thought I told you that I was going first!"

"Huh? No. 1 should go first and No. 7 should go seventh. That's how it works, stupid dumbass cook."

"Dagh! Idiot, why are you _still_ referring to everyone by the order they arrived at Rayleigh's! We just somehow end up at Marineford and you're already pulling _that_ shit _._ "

Two darkened figures emerged; one was wearing a sleek smile while the other had an annoyed grin on his face. The sun brightened and smoke lifted from one of the figure's lips, floating lightly up into the air until visibly disappearing from sight, "And there's only two of us, anyway, so I wouldn't go seventh, dumbass swordsman."

A slight patch of grassy hair began to emerge from the darkness of the ripped hole as the sunlight had hit it just right, "Heh, damn it… why does No. 7 get to talk to No. 1 so bossily?" The man grunted, the scar on the left side of his face almost fully visible now.

The Marines watched in horror as the two figures seemed to continue to argue with each other, completely unaware of their surroundings. The other man's curly eyebrows twitched irritably, his eyes flaring with a fire that was unrivaled in most cases. He pointed an accusing finger at the green-headed figure, "What was that? Listen, after _I_ kick all their damn asses, do you want to fight, Stray Moss?"

Stray Moss lifted his head and his eyes narrowed with a deadly intent as he took his thumb and propped up one of his swords, " _I'll_ cut them up and when I'm finished, I'll kick _your_ ass too."

"I'll beat you into the ground, you damn bastard!"

"Bring it on, pervy cook!"

They both completely left the hole and instantly, the tear vanished, leaving no traces that it was ever there. All that was left of the tear, was a ferocious blue-flamed, three-sword swordsman and a neatly dressed red-flamed furious blonde cook, who both glared at each other, gritting their teeth as they readied themselves for a fight.

"Wait a minute…" A startled Marine beside Luffy began, his hands shaking furiously as if he had just seen a ghost.

"Is that…" Began another, his teeth chattering with fear as the two figures turned to look their way.

Sengoku's head nearly popped off when it didn't take him too long to realize the two mysterious characters were _Wanted_ pirates from _Straw Hat's crew_. Garp said nothing and neither did Ace, clearly not surprised by whatever happened next. At that moment, it was like Ace was never going to be executed in the first place.

Whitebeard glared on with a partial look of perplexity in his eyes while Marco the Phoenix stood next to him with a hand to his chin, trying to understand the situation.

Jimbei, who had been quiet most of the time, shot his palm forward that struck a Navy soldier in the chest, and then quickly shot around to look at what Luffy was staring at with such wide eyes: a green-haired man in a dress and a blonde haired man wearing a suit and tie. Judging by their diverse looks and personality types, Jimbei guessed that they were apart of Luffy's crew.

"Wait, guys! Don't forget about me!" Buggy the Clown shot forward, looking around as the prisoner's eyes were bulging, focused intently on the two newcomers. "AGH!" He shouted and fell backwards, and gasping, he pointed with his finger at the green-haired swordsman as all the color drained from his face, "Ro-ro-ro-roa-roan…" He stuttered but couldn't get the words to come out of his mouth, staring fearfully at the swordsman that suddenly turned his way. Taking action, he jumped behind a rock and peered around it until the swordsman looked away, letting out a breath of relief that the green-haired devil wasn't after him particularly.

The Warlords didn't really get it, but Doflamingo chuckled happily and Mihawk raised his tricorn, a small smirk sliding onto his pale emotionless face as his hawk eyes glowed with some form of ferociousness that no one has seen before. His swordsman-spirit took over and he reached behind his back and pulled out his large, black blade, Yoru,with no trouble at all, holding it out in front of him with one his hat down and flashing his eyes once more, he lowered his voice; in his eagerness, he grinned, "Roronoa."

Sanji lit his cigarette with one hand, his face unwavering as he looked up at the sky and exhaled a giant puff of smoke into the air, "Looks like we'll have to fight." He inquired coolly, reaching up to pull the cigarette out of his mouth as he breathed out another puff of smoke.

Zoro let out a short laugh, his mouth curling into a dangerous grin as he reached for his green/black bandana, putting it over his head and tying it slowly, "Of course, what else did you expect, a carnival?" Turning to look down at his swords, his grin widened as his eyes lit with an exhilarating fire, "This will be fun."

* * *

 **Yeah, okay that's it for now. So, it would mean a lot if you could help me out and just comment bad things, the good things, and you know, if you like the idea and if I should continue with the story. Honestly, it would mean a lot and it's the ideas everyone gives that help a story on this website flourish. Alright, I don't want to make this too long; hope you all enjoyed! ~Papa Sasuke :3**


	2. Time Travelers?

**Too Far Back**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece :3**

 **Hey, thanks for everyone who favorited, followed, reviewed, and what not! I** _ **super**_ **appreciate it… ew, I'm sorry, I won't do it again. Seriously though, it means a lot that you guys like this story and just a true thanks, to everyone :). So, the meaning of the "Prologues" is to just have a fun, mini-side-story I guess, of what happened to the the** _ **current**_ **Straw Hats, rather than those at Marineford, which is the past. Sometimes, I think it's nice to just have another little something to look at rather than just the main thing all the time. Don't know how long the "Prologue story" is going to go on for, but if you guys like it, then I can stretch it out longer :3. Alright I'm done, enjoy the second chapter of** _ **Too Far Back.**_

 **Chapter 2: Time Travelers?**

 **-xXx-**

 _ **Prologue**_

Usopp gasped, spitting dramatically and falling on his side, "LUFFY!"

"What should we do now?" Chopper asked, looking around expectantly and resting his eyes on Sanji, who marched forward, his eyes blazing.

"Yosh, it's time! I won't let him touch your work, Nami-san!" He exclaimed, holding up his knee as a flame burned at the bottom of his leg.

Nami turned her head, eyes wide as Sanji was ready to take off, "Wait a minute, Sanji-kun!" She yelled, turning back towards the Clima Tact, which had an extra extension and a few extra holes that she had just installed. She looked oddly focused, and suddenly, her eyes lit up excitedly, "Almost… yes, I think it's done!"

"Where's the time-travel thing? I want to go the future!" Luffy exclaimed, shooting his fists in the air again as he marched forward, his knees high and his smile broad with adventure.

Usopp and Chopper let out a startled gasp as Zoro unsheathed his swords, his eyes narrowing, "I can just stop him right now." He stated, looking on at Brook, who was standing in a readied stance, his hand on his sword as he sheathed it entirely.

"No, not you, idiot! Besides, you won't need to." Her eyes lit up as she whipped out her Clima Tact, aiming it in front of her towards the edge of the forest that stood in front of them. She grinned, "This will only take a second."

Nami tightened her grip on the Clima Tact as it began to shake slightly. Eyes diverted from Luffy to the Clima Tact that was fidgeting in her grip, and even Luffy stopped marching to see what was going on.

"Black Sorcery, Time Split!" Nami declared, and instantly, a puff of smoke formed from the tip of the Clima Tact and raised to the sky. Dark clouds formed out of nowhere and the area above them became nearly pitch black. Rain wasn't pouring, like Nami had believed it would, but that was only a minor issue, she thought.

Luffy stopped in his tracks, his eyes sparkling as drool escaped his mouth, "Cool! I didn't know you could do that!"

Suddenly, a loud boom of thunder sounded above them and the wind had picked up a bit, swirling circularly as it continued to get stronger.

"Ah, ah, why is the ground shaking?" Usopp asked, wobbling on his feet while Nami turned to look at him quickly before turning back to the sky, which was foreshadowing a massive lightning strike.

"What's going on?" Chopper shouted, holding onto Usopp's leg while both nearly having a panic attack.

Robin steadied herself, standing next to Franky, who looked down at her questionably. She had a knowing look on her face and she looked up at the sky, a frown replacing her almost-always small smile. "It's begun."

A flash and then a loud crash exploded where Nami had originally pointed the Clima Tact. The lightning had quickly retracted, but had left behind a small flame that had hastily diminished.

Zoro and Sanji looked on at the place the lightning had struck, balancing themselves on the semi-quaking ground with looks on their face as if they were readying themselves for a fight. Nami's eyes widened as a few sparks sounded mid-air before a large ripping noise vibrated the area.

"What _is_ that?" Brook gasped, staggering back in surprise and landing on the ground while the rest of the Straw Hat crew looked to where he meant. The atmosphere began to have a different feel to it as the air where the lightning had struck began swirling together, forming a rip that hovered over the ground.

Robin smiled after realizing that it was over while Franky curled his lip and grinned broadly. Brook had his jaw dropped, a giant drip of snot escaping from the large hole of where his nose once was.

The clouds began to clear up, but the black "tear" in the air was still hovering over the ground, and that's what the Straw Hats were all looking at.

"AWESOMEEEE!" Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp sounded at the same time, stars in their eyes at the beauty that stood before them (even though Luffy was about a hundred feet away).

Nami paused, blinking once, as she swiftly looked down at her extended Clima Tact, and then back at the "rip", that was believed to be the time-travel portal. "Eh… this is not how I pictured it…" She questioned aloud, thinking silently what might have gone wrong or if this really was how it was supposed to look.

Zoro frowned and glanced over at Nami impatiently, "Hey, are we going or not?"

"Wait Zoro, I want to make sure all the calculations are right…" Nami snapped quietly, pulling her finger to her chin.

Chopper separated himself from Usopp's leg, and pulled beside him with a thoughtful look while Usopp's eyes narrowed while he waved his hand disbelievingly, "Since when do you care about calculations…"

Nami looked up and brightened as she recalled her past, "Ah, at Weatheria, I was dealing with pretty dangerous experiments. So, if I made on error, people might die." She declared casually, inspecting the new portal from afar.

"How could you say that so easily?" Usopp dropped to the floor with Chopper not far behind.

Sanji closed his eyes and blew his cigarette, placing it back in his mouth while opening them, loyally, "If it's for you, Nami-san, I'll go into the portal right now."

Zoro snorted, walking forwards in front of Sanji, turning around to face him as he pointed with his thumb towards the portal, "Oi, ero-cook, I'm going first, got it?"

"If you go first, you'll get lost, idiot! _I'm_ going first!" Sanji clenched his teeth, stepping in front of the Marimo, angrily.

"Guys… you might die." Usopp whispered hoarsely, looking over his shoulder at Luffy, who was shouting something about "How awesome time travel is" or "If there's more meat in the future".

Zoro paused, but it wasn't because he was thinking of what Usopp was saying, it was because he too, wanted to see what it would be like to travel through time. "I'm going first."

"No you're not, Stray Moss!"

Chopper sighed somewhat apprehensively when he looked from Luffy back to the two fighting morons that stood in front of him,"They're idiots, and they're going to die." A large drop of sweat formed on the side of his face at the thought, but Usopp stood next to him, shaking his head in agreement.

"They're stupid, but even if they are _supposed_ to die, they won't die. That sounds right." He nodded and Chopper seemed to accept that.

Franky smiled, pulling up beside Robin and Brook, "Alright, guys! Then I guess it's up to us!" He shouted, tucking in his fists as he readied himself for a fight. Robin and Brook nodded, knowing that it would be their Trio that would have to hold off Luffy.

Luffy had stopped marching when he looked forward at Franky, Robin, and Brook, who all seemed to be charging at him at once, "Huh? What are you guys… hey! Let me…" He was cut off when Franky had sent a scatter of rockets at him, but he had easily jumped out of the way and was now running towards the portal with a tad of frustration. There was no way he was going to miss this opportunity of a lifetime, "Wait for me! I'm coming too!"

"Nami-san, did you want us to go into the portal now?" Sanji looked over at Luffy, who was being pulled down by Robin's giant hands that had seemed to stop him for a few good seconds.

Nami snapped up to look at Sanji, who had cut in front of an annoyed Zoro, "Wait, you guys. I don't know how stable the portal is… mm, it seems alright, but I don't know why there wasn't any rain. Maybe you shouldn't-"

"Gomu-gomu no, Gatling!"

Sanji stuck his thumb out at Zoro, who raised an eyebrow in reply, "Hey, Nami-san. Just leave the Marimo here, I'll be fine on my own."

"Huh? Are you sure? Don't want you getting lost." Zoro scoffed, narrowing his eyes at the fuming blonde-headed cook.

"Are you kidding me? Look, you're the one who gets lost so it'll be better if you just stay here, dumbass moss-head!"

Nami clutched her fist at their stupid arguing, a vein popping out of the side of her head, "No! You both are going together!"

"If they go together, you might kill both of them…" Usopp whispered pessimistically, lowering his voice to give off the effect of an echo.

"Shut up, Usopp!"

"Gomu-gomu no, Rocket!" Luffy had shot himself forward and was now aimed to land right in front of the black portal. No one in front of the portal was even paying attention to the bullet that headed their way, but Franky was ready to intercept that bullet.

"Coup de…" Franky turned around and positioned his hands overlapping one another, and a small silver barrel was revealed between his hands. He smirked, already knowing the outcome of his move. "Vent!" Franky had used the force of the attack to project himself upward, taking Luffy by surprise when they both met mid-air. Franky used his golden opportunity and outstretched his arm, catching Luffy's neck, and sending him to the ground with a loud yell.

Brook had been waiting for an opportunity to do something and this was his chance. He faced his sword towards him, and then shot forwards, running up to where Luffy was lying on the ground, in a daze, "I'm sorry Luffy-san, but I have to do it because Nami-san told me to. Soul Solid!" He shouted his sword's name and a large ice beam was shot forward, aimed towards Luffy who grunted in surprise, but had avoided the ice by throwing himself to the side.

"Brook, you too?" Luffy raised an eyebrow, not knowing why his nakama had suddenly turned on him. Of course he didn't want to hurt them, but they were strong enough where he would really have to use force to actually knock them down.

Robin stepped forward, holding up her hands to where they crossed over each other and outstretched her fingers, a sharp glimmer in her eyes as she closed them softly. Hands appeared at Luffy's waste as he was charging towards the portal, but he fell with a cry when the hands began to tickle him intensely.

"Sto-stop it, Robin!" Tears formed in Luffy's eyes as he wiggled on the ground in defeat, laughing hysterically.

"Nice going, Robin!" Usopp pumped his fist in the air while Robin smiled back at him, Luffy still laughing terribly, tears streaming down his face.

Chopper's eyes widened, dramatic tears dripping down his face as he remembered back to the first time he had met Robin, "I'm sorry, Luffy. I know how it feels!"

"I-I-I can't take it anymore!" Luffy breathed, attempting to hold his breath while Robin continued to tickle him furiously. Soon he succeeded when his body began to blow up several times it's original size, taking the form of a balloon. "Gomu gomu no, Balloon!"

Robin squinted, realizing that her small hands couldn't affect Luffy's large size anymore, and detached her hands, pulling them at her side while Luffy grinned in his victory.

"Damn it," Franky muttered and Brook gaped while Luffy let out all his excess air, sending his body flailing like a balloon all over the sky until he flew towards Nami directly. Nami had just finished yelling at Zoro and Luffy soaring towards her had caught her off guard when he had knocked into her side. She let out a sudden cry of surprise when the force of Luffy's balloon had unwilling led her to crash into Sanji and Zoro.

Sanji had become off balanced and grabbed onto Zoro by instinct and both lost footing and began falling towards the portal.

"Hey-" Zoro's shocked, irritated words were cut off when both were simultaneously completely consumed by the portal. Instantly, the portal become smaller and grabbed that attention of the other Straw Hats.

 _ **-End Prologue-**_

 **-xXx-**

"AHH, ZORO! SANJI!" Luffy exclaimed breathlessly, earning the attention of both the moss-head and the pervy cook as well as all the other pirates and soldiers.

"Oh, Luffy!" Sanji turned, his cigarette flaring at the end of his mouth as his frown had turned into a bright smirk when he had realized who had called them.

A sharp grin formed on Zoro's face, his head tilting upwards with acknowledgement as he spotted Luffy in a mass crowd of Navy soldiers, "So you made it through." He stated, folding his arms over his chest while his eye glowed with satisfaction.

Obviously, Luffy didn't hear any of them, for he had already planted his hands on jutted rocks and began to pull himself backwards like a slingshot.

Navy soldiers surrounding him stared in awe as his arms continued to stretch as if they were made of rubber.

"What is he?" One asked, poking Luffy's long, outstretched arm that jiggled in response.

Luffy tilted his body, readying himself as he backed up a few feet more and then gave out one cheeky, excited laugh before he shot himself forward towards his two nakama, knocking back all surrounding Navy soldiers with the wind that was created.

Both smiles faded when Zoro and Sanji spotted a flying bullet heading straight towards them. They twisted around instantly, and attempted to run, but it was already too late.

"Wait, Luffy-"

"Don't-"

Luffy, with a smile, extended his arms and caught Zoro and Sanji off guard when he flew in between them, their eyes widening when they felt his grasp on both of their necks. Not even a second later, they were both airborne, pulled from the ground while in the clutches of Luffy's arms. Sanji and Zoro choked on air when they realized that they had began to fall, due to gravity, which Luffy really never seemed to get. Luffy curled his body so he landed awkwardly on the ground with a loud explosion and a cloud of brown dirt that seemed to completely cover the small crater that the Trio had created.

 **-xXx-**

Ivankov had trotted over to where Jimbei was standing, his face serious with thought, "Who're they? Vey just came out of nowhere." He asked, blinking once with bewilderment.

Jimbei looked on knowingly, his frown lifting into a small smile that rested across his face. Ivankov could only look at him with puzzlement as he stared expectantly at the former Warlord.

Jimbei paused, but eventually nodded, his smile never fading, "Luffy's friends."

Crocodile grunted, biting down on his cigar that hung loosely out of his mouth. Raising his eyebrows, he glared down intensely as the cloud of dust began to clear from the crater that Straw Hat had created, "So they're here."

 **-xXx-**

The dust had cleared almost completely and pirates began to swarm around the rim of the crater. Peering in, the pirate's eyes widened as they spotted one of the three against the wall, upside down with his cigarette still in his mouth while the one with the green hair was slumped up against the opposite side, his body awkwardly positioned as if he was already standing.

Luffy was in the center, one hand on his hat while the other clutched his stomach as he laughed uncontrollably. The pirates standing at the outer rim stared at him nervously before looking back at the other two, who were indented into the side of the crater like pictures.

"Someday… someday I will kill this idiot." Zoro grunted, slowly reaching for his swords as if that _someday_ was now.

Sanji dropped his cigarette next to his head, the flame burning out slowly as he twitched his curly eyebrows, "That's funny… I was just thinking… the same thing."

Luffy giggled, ignoring the awe-strucken glares from above, "I missed you guys; I'm glad that you're alright!"

Zoro grunted, forcing himself off the wall that he had been indented into by a certain someone. Curiosity replaced his anger towards the captain as he grabbed his swords and placed them back at his side, "Missed us?"

Sanji raised his eyebrows with interest, flipping himself over and leaning down to brush the dust and dirt off his black suit. He looked up and pulled another cigarette out of his pocket, "How long were we gone?"

Luffy seemed confused, but frowned none the less, trying his best to figure it out, and instantly Sanji regretted what he said. Zoro was now on his feet, walking over to Luffy, who was actually still trying to figure out how long it's been since he's seen them. "Oi, Luffy." He asked and Luffy looked up at him curiously, his head tilted to the side in a inquisitive manner while Zoro looked down at him, pointing a finger at him, "Did you go through a portal like us?"

"That's an outright question!" Sanji slapped his hand while Luffy folded his arms, tilting his head even more.

"What're you talking about?"

Sanji looked over at Zoro and both knew right away that this was not the Luffy that they knew back home, "I thought so; this isn't the Luffy from our time." Zoro folded his hands across his chest, peering over at Sanji who lifted his head and blew out a puff of smoke.

"Damn, I can't believe we traveled through time." Zoro rubbed his head cautiously, wondering whether or not there was a bump while looking over at Luffy, who had his hand covering his eyes, aweing at the crater surrounding them.

"It's kind of hard to believe." Sanji didn't want to agree with the moss-head, but he had to admit: it was kind of crazy that they had just actually traveled in time to Marineford out of every other place in the world.

Zoro didn't respond, but instead lowered his eyes as he recalled the "accidental" moment before they entered the portal, "What the hell, Nami." He whispered sharply, craning his neck back to where the portal once stood in the air.

"What was that, Marimo?"

"Nothing; mind you're own damn business, shitty cook."

The pirates above cleared out of the way as the Trio had made their way out of the crater, now standing at the edge of the big hole. Zoro ignored the shocked pirates that stood around him and decided to check his surroundings instead, scanning the area for all threats and possible allies. They knew where they were, or Curly Eyebrows did anyway, but the real question was: did they travel to the past or the future?

As Zoro looked around, his eyes instantly were attracted to a giant platform at the edge of the center of the plaza, standing alone with only three souls on top of it. Two of them were clearly important, and obvious enemies, Zoro noticed; both wearing Navy officer outfits, but the other one was lying down, chained to the ground. He had a familiar face from what Zoro could see with his vision. He had to squint just to make the outline of his features, and for some reason, he looked _exactly_ like…

"Ace?" Sanji spit out, eyes widening while Zoro glared at him for taking the words out of his mouth.

Zoro himself even seemed to have a surprised expression on his face, even though he only had one good eye. Shortly afterward, he turned to Luffy and dropped his arms off his chest, his single eye narrowing with a serious frown planted across his face, "I thought so. So we traveled to the past. By the looks of it, the battle at Marineford."

"Looks to be that way." Sanji replied slowly, blowing out a puff of smoke before turning back to where Luffy was standing, a hint of curiosity in his gaze when he looked at the boy. He was confident he already knew the answer but he wanted to be sure.

"How old are you?"

"17."

"There you go." Sanji turned to Zoro, who let out a small grunt of "stupid cook" in reply. Luffy's answer confirmed it. Granted, if it was another question, they would probably have to check up on it. After all, Luffy isn't the most reliable source, but a simple question of "How old are you" would suffice in the range to where Luffy could handle without giving out false information.

Luffy was silent afterward, and so were his other two nakama. Both crewmates recalled the time when they learned Luffy had lost his brother; Zoro had been informed by Mihawk while Sanji had read a newspaper. At that moment, they both felt something that they couldn't explain; something that both haven't felt in a long time: fear. Fear of what Luffy was going through; fear of the pain he was feeling; fear of the guilt they would feel knowing they weren't there; fear that he would never be the same again. Knowing that, they had agreed at that moment: they would always be there for him, and they would never, _ever_ let their beloved, idiot- captain go through something like that again.

Luffy, on the other hand, somehow knew what was on their mind: Ace. His mind pulled back to his brother who was said to be executed soon. For some reason, the eagerness and anxiety he had felt knowing that Ace was to be executed was now almost all gone now that he knew his nakama were here with him. It was a warm and uplifting feeling, and Luffy knew that somehow someway, that they all would save his brother. "Where's everyone else?" He piped eagerly, expecting a simple "on their way" or something similar.

Sanji looked at Zoro as if asking for help, but Zoro really didn't catch on and gave a not-so-helpful blank stare. Sanji snorted at his ignorance and then turned back to Luffy shortly after, "I don't know. We went into the portal together but we don't know if anyone followed."

"You guys…" One of the pirates interrupted, stepping forward, his fists clenched as he searched for the right words while the three looked at him with interest, "fell out of thin air!" He finished hesitantly, the other Whitebeard pirates around him nodding their heads in confusion and bewilderment.

The Marimo stepped forward, lifting his eyebrow casually, "Oh, yeah? What of it."

The pirates stepped back, intimidated by his hard voice, but another had the courage to step forward towards Sanji, his mouth gaping as sweat dripped down the side of his head, "Did-did you guys really time travel?"

"EH? YOU GUYS TIME TRAVELED?" Luffy yelped, his eyes popping out of his head while everyone, including Zoro and Sanji, fell to the ground at his late reaction, "THAT'S SO COOL!"

"Idiot, you're _now_ realizing it?" Zoro stood up, holding his head so he wouldn't fall just in case Luffy said something stupid again, which was unavoidable.

"You're the same no matter what, Luffy." Sanji grinned nostalgically, while Luffy ignored him completely, the only thought on his mind was the idea of what possibly awaited for him in the future.

Luffy's mouth watered as a sudden idea popped in his head and Zoro and Sanji somehow noticed Luffy's urgency, "Is...is there more meat in the future?"

There it was. The nostalgia was over. Zoro almost fell to the ground again while Sanji brought his leg up to Luffy's head, striking it down as hard as he could, drilling the boy into the ground. "What kind of stupid question is that?" Sanji asked angrily, his teeth pointed and his fists clenched tightly together.

"Honestly," Zoro grunted, internally rolling his eyes while he externally continued to look at his surroundings, calmly attempting to ignore what had just happened.

 **-xXx-**

"What the hell just happened?" Aokiji stood up out of his seat, clearly wide awake now at the fact he had just watched two of the Straw Hats appear out of nowhere. He was confused but nonetheless interested in how such a thing was possible. Akainu was standing still with his hands over his chest across from Aokiji while Kizaru looked mildly intrigued over the battlefield.

Kizaru's eyes raised as he perked his lips when he spoke with a hint of enthusiasm in his voice, "Oh, it seems that two of Straw Hat's crew came out of thin air: Black Foot Sanji and Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro. How exciting."

"No matter how many more come, I will burn them all." Akainu grunted emotionlessly while he glared out at the Straw Hats arguing and the pirates that seemed to surround them with questions.

Aokiji placed a questionable hand on his chin while he raised his eyebrow towards Akainu, who didn't even look at him in return, "That's sudden, even for you. Don't you think it would be necessary to understand why they came out of thin air in the first place?"

That seemed to get a response out of Akainu when he narrowed his eyes in an instant reply. Kizaru partially smiled at the conflict between the magma and ice Admirals, finding their rivalry amusing. Akainu didn't hesitate, "This is a war; it doesn't matter where they came from or who they are as long as their eliminated. As a Navy Admiral, you're required to see that, or is the title too much to handle your fragile feelings?" His voice lowered dangerously, and Aokiji's eyes narrowed in a bitterness towards Sakazuki's directed reply, "Those who do not follow justice do not deserve to live. That is law." He finished, now fully turning his head so his eyes met directly with the Ice Admiral's.

Kizaru chuckled, stepping between their eye contact and looking out over the glowing battlefield, "Mah, let's get this over with, then. I've got other things to do today, too."

"This day just keeps on getting more exciting!" Doflamingo laughed, extending his arms outwards as he shot a glance over at Mihawk, who stood a ways away from him. Moria looked over the flamingo's shoulder with a needy frown as if expecting to be included in a conversation while Kuma and Hancock stayed silent, their faces inscrutable.

Dracule Mihawk dipped his hat, his hawk-like eyes glowing as he spoke, "It seems that they traveled through time." He supposed, his hat tipping so it didn't reveal his short smirk. Hawk-eye was obviously excited, Doflamingo saw, for the man could practically sense the brewing power of the beast hidden within the swordsman who held an ambition to become the greatest one day.

"Does time traveling mean that they're stronger..." Moria whispered hoarsely, leaning over Doflamingo's shoulder while desperately attempting to become part of the conversation involving the Straw Hats. He had been beaten by them once before, not to long ago, and if they were stronger now, then there was absolutely no way for him to win.

At the idea of Luffy, Hancock began to sway, the heat on her face boiling hot from love. Kuma didn't care, he was weird; all men were in her eyes, but that robot guy exceeded all expectations that meant "weird". All she knew was that two kids that look like relish and mustard had just come through some sort of lightning-shaped hole or whatever, and that's pretty much it. In all honesty, though, she couldn't care less about that: it was only Luffy that she cared about.

She looked over at Luffy instantly, who had brushed himself off, a vein popping out of his head as he yelled something with his mouth watering to the relish and mustard man, that she couldn't make out. Suddenly, her eyes widened when she recognized the words, "I…love…" I love? I love who? Instantly, Hancock began to tremble at the idea of who he could love. Was it her? She wasn't sure… did he love another? She wasn't sure of that either…

Doflamingo laughed, trying his hardest to ignore the weakling that was practically leaning over his shoulder, "Even better, Hawk-eye; damn, I've been waiting for a good fight for a while!" He snickered, his lip curling slightly when he laughed.

Moria had been leaning over Doflamingo with a worried frown while Hancock was left questioning Luffy's love over and over again until she had questioned her own. Kuma didn't move (not surprising), while Doflamingo laughed hysterically (also, not surprising.)

Mihawk thought about the idea of time travel and closed his eyes in thought, only to open them a few seconds later with a new thought on his mind, "I wonder how such a feat was possible for you, Roronoa Zoro."

 **-xXx-**

"Ahh, Sanji, what are you doing?" Luffy complained painfully when Sanji grabbed Luffy's ear before he could run off.

"I'm saving your ass from dying! We need to come up with a plan before we save Ace!" He spat, his cigarette flaring with a lack of patience.

Zoro had lifted his head, opening his mouth wide, "Why don't we just go in there and kick all their asses?"

"Dagh, idiot!" Sanji turned around and the three began to fight amongst themselves… again.

 **-xXx-**

Garp spit out dramatically to the side, eyes popping out of his head while he looked up at Sengoku, "They just appeared out of mid-air. How the hell is that even possible?"

A vein grew on the side of Sengoku's head in reaction to the stupid question Garp had just asked. Sengoku raised his fist, "How the hell should I know, Garp?" He snapped, turning his glare back to Whitebeard, who seemed somewhat unphased by the event. "Damn it, Whitebeard; how did you manage this one?"

A pause filled the gap between the two friends and during that time, Sengoku held his head down and pondered his possibilities. Garp had stuck his pinky in his nose nonchalantly, ignoring the stupid look Ace gave him, but instantly retracted it when Sengoku shot him a quick glare, "Garp, can you recognize them?"

Garp raised his eyebrows and then shot Ace a short glance. His eyes were no longer focused on his grandpa, but on the three brats that were below him, arguing and shouting about something Garp could only guess to be idiotic. Turning his head back to his stupid grandson and then to the other stupid grandson, he put his hand up to his chin. "Hmm, those are Luffy's friends."

"Of course they are; well, the damn hole closed so we can't force them back into it." Sengoku sighed, raising his hand to his head, scratching it tactfully.

Garp snorted, waving his hand as a smile began to widen across his face, "Heh, his friends aren't going to be that easy to take down, especially Luffy-"

"Wait… Garp, shut up." Sengoku stated, looking down at the Straw Hats, attempting to hear the conversations while Garp gave Sengoku a gaping mouth but pulled his jaw back up when Sengoku gave him a ferocious look.

 **-xXx-**

Luffy folded his arms over his chest, turning away from Sanji, who tried to reason with him, "No, I don't get it!" He huffed, Zoro letting out a snort of laughter in the background.

Sanji grabbed his cigarette in his frustration and threw it to the ground, "Luffy, we traveled back in time by _accident_ , idiot; what the hell is there not to understand?"

 **xXx-**

"So, they're time travelers..." Sengoku had strained his ears just to hear what they were saying, but he continued to watch as Sanji pointed at Luffy and then motioned back up where they were standing, Zoro standing when Sanji pointed back at him. Ace raised his head at the sound of Luffy, silently smiling at the ignorance of his innocent brother.

Garp raised an eyebrow when Sengoku turned around to face Ace and then back at him,"Huh, what do you mean?"

"The Straw Hat's just shouted it…"

"Oh…"

Sengoku narrowed his eyes, nearly slamming his fists down at his side, "Damn that kid; he's causing the entire sea trouble."

Garp's face turned serious but a tiny smile formed at his lips when he crossed his arms, "Well, the only thing we can do now, is see what those brats can do."

 **-xXx-**

"Did you hear that, Pops?" Marco stood next to Whitebeard, his eyes wider than usual.

"The brats traveled from the future." Whitebeard stated almost with a sneer, but that was just how he always talked.

Marco turned to look at Whitebeard in the face, his voice suddenly rising with realization, "So does that mean…"

"They already know the outcome of this war."

Both Pops and Pineapple-head looked over at the three Straw Hat pirates expectantly: the moss-head was fighting with the curly-eyebrows while Straw Hat was shouting about something that neither of them cared about.

Marco crossed his arms, a smirk sliding on his face, "They look like they're Ace's brother's friends; I've never seen them before. Pops, what do you think?"

Whitebeard paused, his eyes passing by Marco and landing on the yellow straw hatted boy who was too naive and stupid for his own good. Nonetheless, he tilted his staff, revealing the slight frown-smirk spread across his lips, "Hmph; damn better not get in my way."

Though 70% of the population of both Marines and pirates were fighting, the other 30% were keeping their distance or talking about the weird phenomenon that had happened a few minutes ago. Pirates from all over the plaza began to shout and talk among themselves when they weren't either beating the Marines or getting beat by the Marines.

A blond pirate stepped forward, his eyes bulging as he swung his curved sword at a Navy soldier, missing him and turning over to look at the new arrivals, "Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro: the three-sword style swordsman!"

"Black Foot Sanji; the real deal!" Another pirate shouted from afar.

"They're with Straw Hat Luffy!"

"And they're from the future!"

"Really? That's so cool!"

"They're on our side, too!"  
An uproar of excitement was instantly heard by all of the Whitebeard pirates, believing that these two people could somehow change the fate of the war.

The Navy soldiers gritted their teeth, looking around hesitantly in some form of wonder.

"Damn bastards, I thought they got blown away by Kuma and Admiral Kizaru on Sabaody!" A narrowed-eyed soldier stepped forward, pulling out his gun and shooting it at a pirate that attempted to sneak up on him.

"Did you hear that though? Time travelers?" A soldier from a few yards away yelled, his hands in tight fists.

"How the hell is that even possible?"

"How would I know?"

"So did they come back to take revenge?"

"Screw you, Todd; did you not hear what I just said?"

"Ohh, look Helmeppo-san! That's Luffy-san and Zoro-san!" A pink haired boy with bright eyes motioned over the other boy with a wave of his hand.

The blonde-haired son of Morgan stepped forward, his eyes popping out of his head when he himself spotted both Roronoa Zoro and Monkey D. Luffy, "EH? ARE YOU SERIOUS?"

"I heard that they were beaten at Sabaody Archipelago and Luffy-san was taken to Impel Down but he broke out! That's so cool!" Coby shook his fists, clearly in awe at how amazing his friend was.

Helmeppo nodded in reply, but paused, holding his hand over his mouth as he looked across at Coby and then back out at the bickering Straw Hats, "I know, but-but did you see that _hole_ that they came out of, Coby? What do you think that was?"

"I don't know, but look Helmeppo-san, they have another person with them!" Coby pointed out at Sanji excitedly, feeling an exhilarating emotion began to overtake him.

"Oi… I don't think that's the most important part here…"

"I knew it! He's also a part of Luffy-san's crew! You've come far, Luffy-san!"

"Coby…"

 **-xXx-**

"I have to get out of here while I can; maybe I can sneak out when those Straw Hats are wreaking havoc on the battlefield… hmm, yes, that's a good idea." Buggy the Clown whispered, looking around cautiously as if his plan was already in action.

The prisoners that had escaped from Impel Down looked at each other, one stepping forward with a confused frown while Buggy held his head high, a large smile split across his face. "Captain Buggy, do you really mean that?"

At the question, Buggy instantly stiffened, his eyes narrowing as sweat began to pour down the side of his face. His mouth gaped dramatically at his mistake, "Eh… you guys heard that…"

"Of course!" A tall pirate stepped forward to stand by the previous one, his face serious and Buggy's heart seemed to stop as he waited for what his follower was going to say, "You want to sneak out to go save Portgas D. Ace so you can stop the war, right?"

"He's so noble that he doesn't even want to take the credit!" Another pirate in the back shouted, his fists raising above his head in admiration. Ooo's and Aah's were sounded from all around him and those followed with joyful claps and whistles.

Buggy blinked, silently questioning his own intentions. He nonetheless accepted the misinterpretation and his fearful frown lifted into a sly grin. He waved in appreciation for his followers while Mr. 3 seemed to literally fall on his side in response.

"Captain Buggy, you're amazing!" They all shouted, pumping their fists in the air.

A large bead of sweat formed on the side of Mr. 3's face while he waved his hands, "You all are _too_ optimistic…"

"Smoker-san, look!"

"Huh?" Smoker paused, turning towards where Tashigi was pointing, and immediately, out of surprise, bit down hard enough on his cigar that it broke it right in two.

Tashigi lifted her green-handled sword so that it was level with her nose, her eyes narrowing as she stared off towards her rival, "The demon three sword-style; Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro!"

"And that damn leg-kicking bastard. How the hell did Straw Hat's crew end up here?" Smoker twisted his fist and slammed it down on a pirate that had attempted to attack him.

"I heard they were defeated at Sabaody Archipelago." Tashigi cut in, confusion in her tone.

Smoker's anger was rising as he took his gaze off of the pirates surrounding them and focused on the Straw Hat pirates talking between themselves, "Yeah, and that they were dead. So what; that was a damn lie?"

Tashigi didn't know what to say. She didn't want to make him irritated more than he already was; she never quite understood why he got so worked up. The reason for that was probably because he had been "defeated" by Straw Hat before, "Well not all of them are here, Smoker-san, only two of them came." She began optimistically, her voice softening with every word.

"So does that mean the others are dead? Damn it; Tashigi, don't interfere yet. There's something off about the situation." Smoker scoffed, his legs fading into a white puff of smoke.

Tashigi paused; it was like he had read her mind. She looked over her shoulder at the man she believed she was destined to beat. He had his hands on his swords and an annoyed frown on his face while shouting insults like, "Dumbass cook" or "Dartboard Brow". She frowned, feeling some sort of pride and need to become better; become stronger. Was that her own swordsman spirit? Did she even have a swordsman spirit? Realizing that she had been dozing off in her own thought, she turned back to Smoker and nodded, "Okay."

 **-xXx-**

"Damn it, there's no reasoning with you is there?" Sanji scowled at Luffy, blowing another puff through his cigarette and watching the smoke rise towards the sky.

Zoro crossed his arms, closing his eyes, "We told you, idiot-cook; we already have a plan: save Ace and kick some asses."

"Yosh! Let's go!" Luffy shouted shortly, breaking into a bolt from where he had been standing, ignoring the fact that Zoro and Sanji didn't move, and decided to held to the platform that held Ace, Fleet Admiral Sengoku, and even his own grandpa, Vice Admiral Garp.

"Mah, I don't think so." A sudden flash of light in the corner of Luffy's eye stopped him in his tracks, nearly causing him to fall forward at the improbable speed he stopped at. He had recognized that incredible light before… his eyes widened as he remembered his friends on Sabaody in a flash: fighting and running for their lives while being chased by those damn Pacifistas, the Battle-Axe guy, and… the Navy Admiral: Kizaru! Luffy swung around with unbelievable speed, throwing himself forward in a desperate attempt to call out to Sanji and Zoro who were being targeted, but no sound came out, and he wanted to cry but couldn't. No, it was already too la-

A loud crash and Luffy reopened his eyes, staring widely at the scene before him. Zoro didn't move from his spot, but was sitting with a lazy frown and his arms crossed over his chest, but that's not who Luffy was mainly focused on. All eyes opened, jaws dropped, and fighting stopped when only a few yards away from him, Sanji had met Kizaru's blow head on, matching the height, speed, and power, and all he did was bring his leg up to stop the strike. It didn't even look seem like he was defending, nor did it seem like he was trying either; the two held their legs high, Kizaru holding an interested widened half-smirk while Sanji held a plain frown, as if he didn't even care.

Sanji lifted up his right hand, still holding his leg against Kizaru's; he extended both his middle and index finger and gently lifted the cigarette from his lips, blowing a puff of smoke directly into Kizaru's face.

Kizaru didn't make a move, but instead felt the presence of Aokiji flash behind him, flying by with ice following behind him as a trail. This time, Luffy remembered when he and Robin had nearly died, frozen to death. Thankfully, they had Chopper, though. Somehow, he didn't feel the need to shout out to Zoro, who the Admiral was obviously targeting. Though Zoro looked so relaxed: his eyes were closed and his hands were crossed over his chest as he leaned up against a rock, it looked like he never saw the Ice Admiral coming, but that's what he wanted everyone to think.

Ice fist met sword with a crack in the sky and everyone turned again, silenced when they realized that Roronoa Zoro held out a single sword, blocking Admiral Aokiji's ice punch, and still, didn't even move a muscle besides his arm. Aokiji's eyes widened with surprise, much like Kizaru's but wider; Kizaru and Sanji still held their single kick up while Aokiji and Zoro held up fist and sword.

Now, the fighting had stopped and everyone had turned to look what possibly could cause such a commotion. Silence followed and no one spoke, for no one could comprehend the magnitude of what was happening right in front of their very eyes.

"Oh, you're much stronger than you were before." Kizaru commented, his lips protruding more as he spoke, watching patiently as Sanji's frown turn into a slight smile.

"Heh, I'm a whole lot of a hell stronger than you think."

Zoro smirked, "Oi, shitty-cook; I'll take on both of them and you can sit down and watch." He didn't have to move nor look to feel the damn-cook's smile widen a bit.

"Damn it, you can't have all the fun to yourself, shitty swordsman. How about I take on this yellow asshole and you take on the ice one."

Zoro let out a short laugh as he took his free right hand and pushed up the guard of the white-sheathed sword easily with his thumb, revealing the straight tempered blade of his Wado Ichimonji. His small grin broadened, "Sounds good to me."

 **-xXx-**

 **Ha, I guess I lied about the chapters being shorter… oops. On another note, I feel like I am going to be uploading a new chapter about every weekend or two, just to keep it consistent :). And, you know, if you don't see a new upload, then chances are I'll probably have some dumb, lame excuse that literally every writer comes up with when they haven't posted a new chapter in forever.**

 **~I'm really excited for the next chapter though, and in honor of the third chapter, I wanted to give you guys just a small, little sneak peek of what I'm writing about in Chapter 3 of** _ **Too Far Back.**_ **But I'm also lazy so I'm not going to put in the text, I'm just going to put the dialogue…not even going to tell you who says what… I'm sorry.**

 **-xXx-**

"Wait! Where did Zoro and Sanji-kun go?"

" _YOU_ PUSHED THEM INTO THE PORTAL!".

"AH, NO! I DIDN'T MEAN TO!"

"PFF, BUT YOU DID!"

"IT WAS LUFFY'S FAULT!"

"This is not the time to sit around here and chat! Strong… Right!"

"Treinta Fleurs!"

"Ah, why won't you let me just go through the portal? Zoro and Sanji got to go!"

"That was your fault!"

"OH NO! THE PORTAL WASN'T READY!"

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?"

"NO WAY!"

"SOMEONE HAS TO GO AND SAVE THEM! USOPP, GO!"

"WHAT? WA-WAIT A MINUTE, AHHH!"

 **-xXx-**

 **Yep…enjoy. Lol, bye. ~Papa Sasuke :D**


	3. Old but New Friends

**Too Far Back**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece :D**

 **Aha, it's been one of those two-week chapters; oops. Hey, I don't plan on abandoning this fanfiction… ever, until somehow, someway, I literally can't find a way I want to end it. But I'm a dedicated person, so, even if it might take a while, I won't let this fic die. Yeah, I'm already saying that and it's only the third chapter. o well, lol.**

 **Chapter 3: Old but New Friends**

 **-xXx-**

 _ **Prologue**_

Everyone stopped and went silent; even Luffy, who had been noisy and annoyingly loud this entire time. Not a single sound was made from not only the Straw Hats, but the surrounding trees and animals as well. A bird chirped obliviously and that seemed to pull everyone back to reality. Everyone blinked once, and then twice, before a sudden heart-stopping strike of realization had hit them all at one time.

"AHH, ZORO! SANJI!" Chopper gasped, his jaw dropping to the floor; his face paling with realization when he became aware that the two strongest crew members had just pulled one of the best disappearing acts that he, as a reindeer, has ever seen.

"It seems that they fell into the portal." Robin stated obviously, her hand coming up to her chin while her face formed into a frown, earning a confused, speechless blank stare from Brook.

"Oh, sorry-ah, Franky!" Luffy had begun to apologize, but was cut off by Franky's powerful beam. He had no time to admire it, but instead shot forward with his own attack, "Gomu gomu no… Rocket!" He flew through the sky at an exaggerated light speed and aimed himself directly at Franky. Franky rolled to the side, barely missing him, grunting in reply, and Luffy had ended up landing on his feet awkwardly, where he did a backflip to stabilize himself.

Nami shook her head and stood up, regaining herself as she held her ear as if it hurt. Murmuring, "Ow" a few times, she just noticed that Brook, Usopp, and Chopper were all standing over her with terrified expressions as if someone had just died. She blinked unknowingly, cocking her head in reply to their unhinged jaws, which were literally dropped to the floor. She stood up slowly and then confusion struck her when she looked around, baffled when she realized that both her test-subject idiots weren't there. "Wait! Where did Zoro and Sanji-kun go?"

" _YOU_ PUSHED THEM INTO THE PORTAL!" Usopp yelled dramatically, appearing out of nowhere while raising his hand in her bewilderment.

Nami held her hands to her head, her knees nearly buckling under her as she stared back at Usopp with the same comical pale stare, "AH, NO! I DIDN'T MEAN TO!"

Usopp shot forward, "PFF, BUT YOU DID!"

"IT WAS LUFFY'S FAULT!" She pointed towards where Luffy was sitting with his legs folded on the ground. He looked up from his spot and smiled widely, waving in response to his name.

Franky snorted, turning her direction for a split second before doubling backwards at Luffy's punch that came out of nowhere. He curled his lip and swung his fist upwards, pointing it directly at Luffy, "This is not the time to sit around here and chat! Strong… Right!" Franky shot his right fist forward and it collided with Luffy, sending him back a hundred feet or so.

"Treinta Fleurs!" Robin smiled, closing her eyes creating an "X" with her hands and curving her fingers slightly. Hands began to form around Luffy, who gritted his teeth and reply, attempting to shake off the hands that were now wrapped around him.

"Ah, why won't you let me just go through the weird hole? Zoro and Sanji got to go!"

"That was your fault!" The reindeer angrily shot back at him.

Nami grabbed her head in anxiety, her eyes large as her mouth gaped while Usopp and Chopper both physically and mentally prepared themselves for more bad news, "OH NO! THE PORTAL WASN'T READY!"

That was possibly one of the worst things that she could have said right then and there. Chopper gasped, his face turning completely blue, "ARE YOU SERIOUS?"

"NO WAY!" Usopp responded, tears beginning to fall down his cheeks in dramatization.

In the spur of the moment, she looked around frantically and instinctively, her eyes landed directly on Usopp, who was standing nearest to her as well as the portal. "SOMEONE HAS TO GO AND SAVE THEM! USOPP, GO!"

Usopp's heart stopped beating, "WHAT? WA-WAIT A-A MINUTE, AHHH!" Nami had pushed Usopp forward and he had lost his balance, just as Sanji had, and fell in the portal, completely consumed by the darkness. Instantly afterward, the portal made a quick "popping" noise and disappeared, the clouds disappearing as well as if the portal had never been there in the first place.

"AHH, NAMI-SAN DID IT AGAIN!" Brook was horrified and began running around, not knowing what else to do in the situation.

"USOPP!" Chopper cried, following Brook in running around the area, yelling fearfully for their "fallen" friends.

Nami stared blankly at the portal for a few good seconds before turning around to face her nakama with a pale, emotionless expression, "Eh… what? I didn't think it would close…"

 ** _-End Prologue-_**

 **-xXx-**

Aokiji was almost always laid back, and even followed his own "Lazy Justice" _religiously_ , but this… this was different. Just the feeling of colliding his cold, ice-coated fist against the swordsman's jet-black sword was a bit overwhelming, which was a feeling that Aokiji nearly never felt. Some say that a good fighter can tell how strong his opponent is after the first strike, but a great fighter would already know where his opponent stands simply with their eyes. Aokiji thought that was stupid, in a sense, but looking into the swordsman's narrowed, demon-like eye; it made him think otherwise. He shook off the thought and focused on reality, exerting more force into his punch that was said to be unmatchable. Roronoa Zoro, however, disproved that statement and held out his sword simply with one hand, his eyes locking with Aokiji's as they both held out their arms, not moving a single inch.

Aokiji was the first to disrupt the silence, "Don't get too cocky." He waited for Roronoa Zoro to say something in reply, but didn't get an answer. A small feeling of unease seemed to unintentionally come to Aokiji's mind, but reminding himself that he was a Navy Admiral, he tossed the idea away and replaced it with uncaring confidence.

"Ooh, Haki? I think it's pretty interesting, don't you think, Aokiji?" Kizaru lifted his lip and turned to the ice Admiral, but became less interested and then slowly pulled his eyes back to the pirate that had matched his kick in speed and power. Black Leg Sanji didn't take his eye off his opponent, and Kizaru smirked at the thought that the boy was trying to intimidate him. Sure, these kids were strong, but it wasn't like both he and Aokiji were striking with full force. It wasn't really surprising, but in the same sense, there was still no way that these children could take them on… right?

Without warning, both Admirals backed off simultaneously, leaping back a good distance and retracting fist and foot and pulling them back at their side. Zoro and Sanji seemed to do the same thing, retracting their sword and leg, but the only difference was; they didn't move from their spot.

The battlefield was quiet, quieter than what it was supposed to be. Most all fighting had stopped and the Marines looked over at the two pirates that had blocked their said-to-be unbeatable Admirals, with dismay and terror. Admirals were the highest Navy rank, below the Fleet Admiral of course, but they were highly respected and often looked up to as a role model and goal. With high expectations like that, you'd think they'd be immortal and invincible, which is an unreasonable assumption, but what the Marines don't realize is that there are some nameless pirates besides the big shots today that, yes, can take on even the _invincible_ Navy Admirals.

Sengoku was always one to be surprised in the past, but because of what he has seen, not as much surprised him anymore. This however, gave not only himself, but everyone a different chill in the air. His eyes widened just slightly in true amazement at the way both the two Straw Hat pirates had blocked the two Admirals foot with ease. It wasn't like he hadn't seen something like this before, but the fact that he could already tell how strong these two individuals were just by looking at them made him made him that more surprised. Garp's jaw dropped the ground next to Ace's, because like grandfather, like grandson, even if the grandson was to be executed shortly. Just as Sengoku, it wasn't as if he and Ace hadn't seen it before, but the fact that _Luffy_ had this powerful of people on his crew, even if they were time travelers, shocked both of them. Moria and Kuma didn't move, but Doflamingo stared onward with a smile and Mihawk stood with his arms folded across his chest, his golden eyes flashing. Hancock was, in a sense, startled, but that was most likely due to the fact that she was still rationalizing over the idea of Luffy loving another person than herself.

Smoker was done watching, but he knew at the moment that it was not the time to take on the Straw Hats; not when they could easily, and obviously, take on an Admiral. Not only was he in a sense of shock, but so was his partner, Tashigi, who seemed to have her heart skip a beat. She thought about her dream, and her rival, Roronoa Zoro. Seeing him take on Kuzan Aokiji made her hold her breath in bewilderment in terms of how much of a gap in strength, experience, and spirit there really was between them.

 **-xXx-**

On the pirate side of life, the pirates, as well, had nearly almost stopped fighting. The fact that nearly all of them had their jaws to the ground, sweating out of pure astonishment, had said something important. They also realized that the two new Straw Hats were on _their_ side, so maybe, just maybe, these two new pirates can change the fate of the war.

Whitebeard stood tall with his curved mustache hiding his frown on his face. It wasn't a frown out of anger or annoyance, but a frown of acknowledgement; in a way, it was Whitebeard's way of saying, "Heh, you're both pretty strong." without words. The Division commanders have seen this before and weren't too shocked, but it gave them a little more sense of hope that they _could_ save Ace and win the war. Whitebeard's subordinate crews as well, seemed to now have a new respect for the Straw Hats that had faced off a single blow against two of the three Admirals.

Jimbei and Ivankov's eyes popped out of their heads as they nearly fell back in surprise to the two's monstrous strength. They've been with Luffy for a while and have grown to know him nearly inside and out, but they never expected that he'd be the captain of a crew so strong.

Buggy fell over, along with his black and white-striped "crew", that were in nearly as much as astonishment as their "captain." At that moment, Buggy knew that there was no way that he was going to get out of this war alive unless he had people to protect him, while making him look good. It was hard, but with his mind, he knew it could be done. Crocodile raised his eyebrows as well, biting on his cigar a bit harder with the realization of how strong the man's crew (that had beat him and took his Warlord title away) had become.

Luffy was beyond astonished and was more towards blinding himself with how bright his eyes were sparkling in admiration. Just like grandfather and brother, he too, had his jaw unhinged and dropped fully to the floor, while his arms and legs seemed to buckle. Never in a million years had he thought of how strong his crew was going to be; sure, he had thought about beating up the Four Emperors and the Admirals, but actually seeing it for his very eyes rather than just saying it gave him a whole different experience. Noise had tried to escape Luffy's mouth, but nothing had come out, and instead, his eyes bulged out of his head in response to his silent shouting.

"Black Leg Sanji…" Kizaru ignored the glares that seemed to be aimed in his direction, "and Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro."

"Heh, so you know our names…" Sanji's eyes flared with a raging fire as if he was recalling the past at Sabaody, "Remember them good when we kick your asses."

Zoro didn't grin, nor did he move a muscle just yet. The stupid blue guy was his opponent, and though he could refer to Kizaru as "that yellow guy", he'd rather save that for the ero-cook instead. So both the blue and "light" Admirals were glaring at them, preparing themselves for a fight against two of the Straw Hat pirates. Zoro knew that Admirals usually never were the first to enter the fight, such as you would usually never open up you're queen on the first or second move of Chess, because Admirals were described as "last resorts" or "trump cards", in a sense. However, this was a "special" situation; seeing two pirates apart of Straw Hat Luffy's crew walk out of a floating portal and announcing that they're time travelers would get anyone to raise an eyebrow or two. He had refrained himself from saying something about how the blue Admiral was no longer a part of the Navy, but refrained himself from doing so, for there was no point in saying something out of an impulse. On another note, a different thought came to mind regarding the Admirals: maybe the reason why they left their post so early was to see what him and "that yellow guy" were really capable of. But, then again, there was also the possibility they were just bored, so…

Zoro cocked his head, and craned his neck back around towards where their idiotic captain was standing, stupefied and… salivating. He raised his voice to ensure that he heard him, "Oi, Luffy; while idiot-cook and I beat these guys, you should go and rescue A-"

Before he finished his sentence, a shining, large man seemed to fall out of the sky and slam down heavily in front of him, while a fiery blue bird landed in front of Sanji, his talons touching the ground ever so lightly.

"Oh, so we meet again, 1st Division Commander Marco the Phoenix." Kizaru raised his voice excitedly, eyeing the bluebird that was beginning to put out it's flames and change back into the Pineapple-head, 1st Division Commander, Marco.

Marco didn't grin, but lifted his head while folding his hands casually across his chest, "Yeah, and this time I'll kill your sorry ass."

"Couldn't have said it better, Marco." The man next to him was twice his size and half of his body sparkled back with a reflection enough to make you squint. He had a large, toothy smile that made up half his face and a hearty laugh that could remind you of both Dorry and Brogy.

"Diamond Jozu." Ice formed on Aokiji's finger tips and began to spread quickly up his arm and down half the rest of his body.

Zoro scoffed, an annoyed and dangerous look spread across his face in consequence to the fact that the two Whitebeard pirates had interrupted their soon-to-be fight against the Admirals. "What the hell; move out of the way."

Marco shot around with a look of his normal, uncaring frown, "We've seen what you two can do. Both you two and Straw Hat need to go save Ace." He turned back to Kizaru, lifting his hand and tightening it in a fist, "He's our number one priority."

"Yeah, we'll take it from here." The diamonds spread to more than half his body as Jozu readied himself for a fight with Aokiji.

"Damn it; I'm not taking orders from these two." Zoro stated scornfully, reaching down with his hand to ensure that all three swords were at his waist.

"I guess it can't be helped." Sanji ignored that the moss-head had raised in his eyebrow in question and turned towards Luffy, who looked as if he was ready to ask the two a waterfall of questions. Sanji waved his hand, blowing out his cigarette as he purposely readied himself to irritate the swordsman with a statement that he knew would get him off his lazy ass, "Let's go, Marimo. Make sure you follow me or you'll get lost."

That was it. That remark grabbed Zoro's attention instantly. He shot up with a "Huh?" and marched over to "that yellow guy", with his Shusui unsheathed, "You're the one who get's lost, shitty cook."

The Monster Trio began to break into a run towards Ace's platform with Zoro and Sanji head-to-head, literally, arguing with yells of "Don't even try to bring up how you get lost, Stray Moss!" and "What did you just call me, Mustache Eyebrow?" about who knows what; with Luffy trying to butt in between them, attempting to ask them a series questions with shining stars in his eyes about, again, who knows what.

When the Straw Hats were a blur, Marco turned back to his companion and gave out a short, quick smile followed by a chuckle, "Heh, they're one hell of a team."

"Mah, so I guess we're going to fight _you_ now?" Kizaru interrupted the thought and waved his hand, turning to Aokiji who sighed and shook his head, clearly wanting to take a nap.

"I doubt it'll be much of a fight, but that's fine by me."

Jozu scowled and clenched his fists tighter while Marco took a step back, readying himself to fling forward at any time.

Without warning, as if a bell had rung, all four shot forward; Aokiji with ice escaping the palm of his hand, Kizaru holding his hands up across his chest, readying himself for a beam attack, Jozu with his hand extended forward for a punch, and Marco, who spun around in an attack that was meant to be lethal, aimed for the head. A long shout and a flash, and the battlefield shook once again.

 **-xXx-**

"Damn those two; leaving their positions so easily." Akainu scoffed, grudgingly glaring back out at the weak, motionless soldiers that stood below him. He couldn't take anymore of the Marine's ignorance; a soldier is meant to fight and follow orders; there is no reason to be struck-stupid in a time like this out of one clash between four people that happened three minutes ago. This is war, not a sport. He gritted his teeth as his voice shook with anger, "What are you all doing? Don't just stand there, take them down!" Akainu sat back down in his chair when all Marines looked at each other, nodding their heads in faint agreement. Akainu felt Sengoku's stare hot on his neck, but brushed it off without a care. Sengoku's eyes narrowed towards Akainu when the magma Admiral seemed to be aware of his own penetrating glare. Akainu was not the Fleet Admiral, he was, and therefore, was not in charge. Nonetheless, Akainu gave the soldiers the kickstarting words to make them come full swing back to reality. If he got the job done, just this once, then so be it.

"He's right!" The first Marine shot forward, his fist pumped in the air as he looked over the other Marines with a sense of hope. That seemed to rile them up.

"We'll win this war!"

"Let's take them down!"

"Yeah, but they just blocked the Admiral's attack; they're probably pretty strong…"

"That's not the damn point, Todd!"

With that, a wave of Marines began to swarm around Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy; the most, they believed, they've ever seen come at them at one time, with a possible exception of Fishman Island. The Trio stopped in their tracks and waited patiently as if they were _letting_ them come. They didn't move, and their conversations stopped for a split second, until Luffy ruined the moment with a loud, and obnoxious, "WOW!"

 **-xXx-**

"Hey, how did you block the blue and yellow guy's moves? That was really cool; are you guys really that strong in the future? Ohh, how strong am I?"

The Marines were already on them, and the three bat them all away with ease; every time one came towards them, they would knock down five more. The enthusiasm in the conversations they were keeping was as if Ace's life wasn't even at stake, but all three knew that wasn't true. Zoro and Sanji used their senses, or, whatever senses they had: the Navy wouldn't kill Ace now, not when Whitebeard hasn't entered the battlefield yet and it's only been about thirty minutes into the war. Luffy, on the other hand, seemed to be somewhat oblivious in the blur of flying and yelling Marines.

Sanji turned his body and hooked about seven Marines with his right leg, slamming them to the ground when he quickly jerked his body to the side with one quick motion. He brought up his hands and covered his hands over his cigarette as he re-lit the tip, "Well, for one, you're pretty strong. You took down… never mind." Sanji took down ten more soldiers with a single blow and sent them flying for miles, but that was not the reason he cut himself off. He forgot that Luffy didn't take down a certain someone yet and decided that it was in all their best interest to not reveal it yet. He picked back up where he had ended, "Anyway, it took a while, but I worked my ass off and got a lot stronger. Stronger than that guy over there." Sanji pointed to Zoro, who finished slicing a batch of Marines, and instantly raised his voice in competition, "Oh, you want to test that out, Curly-brows?"

"Yeah, shit-head; I don't remember you having to go through a nightmare of those damn fake-women." He shuttered at the thought, remembering his long, two-year stay in Hell on Momoiro Island.

Zoro looked up, clearly not interested in anything he had to say, "Huh?"

"I _ran_ for those two years; built up my leg muscles like hell." Sanji growled, flipping his body upside down as he spun himself clockwise with a series of devastating kicks to many Marine's heads.

Zoro lifted his lip a little, "Oh, yeah? While you were running away for two years, I was doing _real_ training."

"Dagh, do you want to fight, stupid moss-head; we can see who's stronger, right now!"

"Bring it on! I'll cut you in half!"

"You guys are so funny, you haven't changed at all!" Luffy laughed, clapping his hands together as he leaped over a Marine with ease and punched a few more that stood in his way.

The swarm of Marines seemed to only get bigger, and there were still so many more scattered across the battlefield. It seemed as if they took down a few down at once, they were replaced with twice as many soldiers in the meantime. Though all three of them weren't really trying, they were all beginning to become irritated with the amount that came at them wave after wave.

"Damn it, these Marines are annoying." Sanji shouted something and then sent twenty Marines flying at once, forcing them to land on other Marines and immobilizing even more.

Sanji noticed Zoro tightening his bandana, and unsheathing all his swords at one time. Though the Marines weren't much of a threat, in the future, eventually the Warlords, Vice Admirals, and Admirals would be. Zoro brought his Wado Ichimonji to his mouth, biting down hard on the grip of the white sword. He faced his one black blade across his body and the other over his head, his eye narrowing as his tensed his body, "Three Sword Style:" A shining glimmer seemed to coat each sword as Zoro raised his hands and a new atmosphere filled the air. Luffy seemed to beam with enthusiasm while Sanji stepped unwillingly out of the way for the Marimo's attack. Zoro raised his head and grinned, his eye sharpening, "108 Pound Phoenix!"

He swung his swords down which emitted a raging blast shaped like a tunnel of swords flying straight towards a giant mass of Marines that blocked their path to Ace. The tunnel of blades seemed to run on for a while, with screams and shouts and flying soldiers everywhere within at least twenty feet of it, until it broke off at the edge of the island and stopped in the dead of the sea.

Zoro sheathed both his Wado Ichimonji and Kitetsu, leaning on Shusui with ease. He stared off at the path he had cleared for them, with soldiers taking a step back in confusion and bewilderment. He turned to his crewmates casually, "There; now it's clear."

Sanji grunted, a vein popping out of the side of his head when he faced the damn swordsman, "I was supposed to do that, shitty swordsman!"

"Then why didn't you do it, idiot-cook?"

"ACE!" Luffy shouted, running away from the two bickering crewmates with his hands cupped around his mouth, running through the giant pathway Zoro had made from his flying-sword attack. Zoro and Sanji looked at each other and simply watched him run further away from them. Sighing, they involuntarily admitted defeat and followed after him.

"Great; I forgot how we have _two_ idiots on our side." Sanji mumbled through his cigarette, shaking his head in disbelief as he slowed his run into a trot when he caught up with Luffy.

"Huh?" Zoro raised his eye, his eyebrow twitching in annoyance when he realized what the cook had said.

"WE'RE COMING!" Luffy yelled again, ignoring the Marines that began pour in, closing the pathway, that nearly led directly to Ace's execution platform.

Ace looked down at his younger brother, his heart stopping when he saw the sword aimed straight for his little brother's head, "LUFFY!" Ace shouted back just as loud, if not louder, earning an eager and sad look from Garp while Sengoku watched in impatience.

"I've got you now, Straw Hat!" A spiky, pink-haired soldier dubbed as Captain Rei swung his sword down, aiming it directly over Luffy's neck.

Though Luffy grit his teeth in preparation for the hard blow, Zoro and Sanji watched patiently from afar, smirking inwardly when they sensed with their Observation Haki their old friend running up from behind the Navy captain, aiming a fatal blow to his neck. They had so much trust in the blue fishman, that they chose not to worry for their rubber captain; he wasn't going to die, not from a stupid wannabe Navy captain.

A single cry and Captain Rei was on the ground with Jimbei standing over him, his eyes softening when he saw Luffy brighten with excitement.

"Ohh, thanks, Jimbei!" Luffy smiled warmly, looking over Jimbei's shoulder to see Ivankov panting. Luffy smiled back at him too, remembering everything that they all had been through.

Jimbei broke his chain of thought, "Luffy-kun; remember, Ace's execution has been sped up; we don't have much time."

Ivankov disappeared from behind Jimbei and came into view directly by Sanji, who didn't seem to notice at the time until he began speaking, "Vat's right, Straw-boy! Ve should hurry; your friends too!" Ivankov turned to Sanji and winked generously, a short smirk spreading across his face. Sanji yelled while his head nearly popped off of his neck, his knees buckling underneath him, sending him to the ground. His face turned blue with depression and remembrance while he proceeded to pound the ground with his fist, tears dramatically rolling down his face. His voice lowered to a weak whimper, "No… not this again…"

"Eh, vat's wrong, Candy-boy?" Ivankov asked with a concerned frown, his hand outstretched as if offering Candy-boy a hand. Sanji leaped to his feet in an instant reaction and raised his hands as if preparing himself for a fight, a raging fire-like aura beginning to surround him entirely. "No! Don't come any closer!"

Zoro let out a simple sigh as a bead of sweat formed on the side of his face, "He's a lost cause; you can't help that stupid idiot." He waved his hand in response, and turned towards the others.

Luffy marched forward, his hands on his hips with his head held high, his eyebrows narrowed and his eyes wide with aspiration. Everyone turned to look at him, a look of confusion and interest on each of their faces, "Alright, let's go before it's too late. We've got to save Ace!" He shouted, pumping his fist in the air and earning a loyal "Right!" from the four others that seemed to follow under him such as a "captain" and his "crewmates". As they turned to break into a run, they noticed Luffy hadn't moved from his spot. He had stood there with his fist in the palm of his hand as if he just realized something.

"Oh!" Luffy shouted in shock, forcing the other four to stop in their tracks, swinging around to see what was up with the boy this time. "You guys haven't met yet!"

They all sighed, lowering their heads as they realized that this was indeed the person they were following in battle.

"Didn't you just hear vwhat we just said…" Ivankov cried, unnecessary tears streaming down his face.

"This isn't the best time, Luffy-kun." Jimbei exhaled, scratching his head thoughtfully.

"YOSH!" Luffy marched forward, ignoring all weird looks that came from around him, and pointed at Zoro, who looked up in curiosity. Luffy began to smile widely, "That's Zoro; he's my swordsman; he's really stupid, but _super_ strong! Oh, you can also call him Marimo."

"Oi…" Zoro drew his sword.

"That's Sanji, he's my cook, and he makes _really_ yummy food. He's also _really_ strong and loves clothes." Luffy didn't hesitate to drool at the mention of the word "food", especially with the idea of meat.

"Clothing…" Sanji sighed, nearly getting on his knees in desperation as if he were leading into a big, heartfelt speech. Instead, though, he blew out a puff of smoke coolly, lifting his head to the sky in thought, "You got it all wrong, idiot. It's not the clothes; it's the beautiful ladies..."

A slight pause filled the gap and Sanji began to smile at the idea of beautiful women, his cheeks turning pink while a drop of blood escaped from his nose at the perverted thought.

"Oi, Luffy, you forgot pervy and dumbass for Mr. Nosebleed." Zoro pointed out, sticking his sword at Sanji who snapped out of his daydreaming in reply.

"Oh, I did?" Luffy questioned, seriously considering his decisions.

"What did you just say, Marimo?"

"Who are you calling Marimo, you idiot!"

Fighting erupted between them when leg clashed with sword over and over again as they continued to argue over, once again, another stupid thing.

"Aha! See, aren't they funny? Oh, and there's six more apart of my crew! But I don't know where they are." Luffy grinned broadly, clapping his hands in joy, watching Zoro nearly cut Sanji in half while Sanji nearly kicked Zoro through the ground, all the while quarreling dangerously. Jimbei and Ivankov exchanged worried glances with each other that read "How did we get ourselves into this mess" without a single word.

"Luffy-kun, are you sure they aren't trying to kill each other?" Jimbei sighed, looking back over at the Marimo and Curly Eyebrows that were fighting with each other rather than fighting the surrounding enemies, that were enclosing on them, and fast.

"Six more?" Ivankov's eyes narrowed while imagining a ship with six more idiots just like the ones before him. "Vat must be a riot."

Jimbei sighed another time in response, before raising his eyebrows at the sudden realization that they were forgetting something. "Oh," He began, earning the sudden attention of Zoro and Sanji, as well as Luffy who looked at him expectantly, "I almost forgot: I'm Jimbei; Luffy-kun saved me from Impel Down."

Jimbei paused, looking on at Zoro and Sanji, who had their eyes fixated on him with a knowing, warm expression as if somehow, someway… they knew him already.

Ivankov stepped forward, spinning once before striking a pose. He winked once before raising his smile and at that moment, Sanji realized that yes, there was no mistaking this person. "Vi'm Ivankov, King of the Newkama! But vyou can call me Emporio Iva-sama!"

"No."

"Fair enough…"

Zoro raised his sword and rested it on his shoulder, staring out with his only eye over the two "misfits", "So, we've got a Past Warlord and another devil fruit user. This should be pretty interesting."

"They're both really strong too, so we're definitely going to save Ace!" Luffy added confidently, his grin making his entire statement that more convincing.

Jimbei nodded, clearing his voice suddenly and earning the attention of the other four pirates, who raised their eyes as they waited for his instructions, "Enough introductions; let's go!"

"Ju-just a minute, you guys! How could you forget about your-your Captain Buggy-sama!"

Everyone turned to face the literal clown who stood before them with a rich, sly smirk on his face, a shiny red nose extending far past his face to symbolize the true meaning of "clown". The five could practically feel his followers in the background, with their loud and obnoxious cheering for their "fake" captain.

"Who are you?" Zoro and Sanji asked seriously, simultaneously. In response, Buggy fell hard down on the ground at the sudden, crude question.

"Ahh! That really hurts my feelings, you know…" Buggy whispered hoarsely, but his tears stopped as he raised his hand to his chin. A devilish thought had just come to mind. _Come to think of it, if I stay with the Straw Hats, then they can protect me and I'll be able to survive this war and live as a king with followers loyal under me!_

"We were just about to leave." Jimbei frowned, turning to Buggy, who still had his hand on his chin, his thoughts only on the idea of being a king and having subjects under him.

Luffy frowned, clearly not interested in what the clown had to say, "Oh, it's Buggy."

"What do you mean by that, Straw Hat?" Buggy began angrily, but without warning, he bowed his head and a spotlight focused over him, preparing him for his sincere, heart-warming speech. "We battled monsters together, almost died, and in that, we became brothers, you fool." Buggy had broken down into dramatic tears, wiping them away with his striped sleeve, for the show must go on. "We escaped Impel Down and now we're fighting together on the battlefield that can mean life or death-"

Everyone was already at least a few hundred feet away from where Buggy sat on his knees by the time he realized it. The group of five badass pirates were already fighting their way through Marines like it was nothing; punching, kicking, and sending them soaring sky-high through the air with ease. Buggy spit to the side and fell theatrically on his head, leaving a large, red bump that would probably stay there until the war was over. He yelled after them, waving his hands as he proceeded to take up the rear of the group. "AaaAHH, I TOLD YOU TO WAIT FOR ME!"

 **-xXx-**

 **I have so many ideas for the upcoming chapters, and I'm so excited that you guys are liking the storyline too. Also, I guess I kind of faked you out with the whole "sneak-peek" from the last chapter, huh. Well, I can tell you for certain that for the next chapter, you'll definitely be seeing some Usopp, that's for sure. Sorry, there's no sneak peek for the next chapter D:, but okay, I'll give you guys some sort of general idea of** _ **a single**_ **scene that's going to happen:** Mihawk and Zoro _will at least_ see/acknowledge each other in Chapter 4. **Oooo, ok so moving on, lol. I don't like to ask for reviews, because I think that's just me being needy and selfish, but I always do appreciate them; it helps me know what you guys like, don't like, you know, just things like that. Simple thanks, again, and I'll try to post the chapters faster, if I can, but I'd rather take a little more time getting something good rather than throwing it out there so fast, to where it's just sloppy. And to everyone who's actually still reading this, props to u guys, lol. ~Papa Sasuke :)**


	4. Showing Off a Little

**Too Far Back**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece :)**

 **Lmao I'm not dead, sorry. I won't go into excuses because I hate when people do, sorry for those who do that, lol. I don't usually post on a Monday, but I'm really proud of this and this took a while to write, so that's happening today. No comments, no remarks; just enjoy the chapter, ;)**

 **Chapter 4: Showing Off a Little**

 **-xXx-**

 _ **Prolouge**_

"THE HOLE ATE USOPP! AND THEN IT RAN AWAY!" Luffy yelled, his hands on either side of his head as he stared slack-jawed at his crew with a horrified expression on his face.

"Nooo!" Chopper and Brook cried, continuing their obnoxious screaming and shouts that probably could have attracted Marines.

Nami tightened her fist, a vein appearing at the side of her head, "Shut up; I'm trying to think!"

Robin stood next to Luffy silently, attempting to try to reason that the portal did not in fact eat Usopp, "Luffy, Long-nose fell into the portal and then the portal disappeared; it didn't run away."

"Oh, so it didn't eat Usopp? I see." Luffy put a finger to his chin in understanding.

Brook stopped running for a minute, pausing before laughing nervously, "Luffy-san, you don't know how time travel really works, do you… yo-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!"

"I wonder why the portal closed." Chopper stopped beside Luffy, who really took that question as a statement. Chopper didn't even know why he bothered to ask.

Luffy stepped forward, covering Chopper's vision, "Nami, why did you close the hole?" He pouted seriously, while Nami seemed to grow more irritated with every word that came out of each of their mouths.

"I didn't mean to!" She snapped, pulling her attention back to her Clima Tact.

"Does that mean they're stuck in the future or the past?" Franky asked, standing over Nami with a sincere look on his face.

Nami looked up before pausing. Sighing, she suddenly waved her hand dismissively, "Eh; don't use "stuck", it doesn't play well with my conscience…"

"Nami-san, how about abandoned." Brook suggested, holding his sword to his chest as he stared back at Nami who was in a cloak of fire like Sanji's Diable Jambe.

"Deserted." Robin smiled, enjoying the clear objective of the game.

"Robin…"

"Oi, where's dessert." Luffy brought his hand to his forehead, covering his eyes as he began to search for the dessert but was brought down by a slap of a hoof.

"No."

"Alright, alright I get it; I can fix it though, so don't worry." Nami waved her hands, her lack of confidence showing obviously and the Straw Hats looked at each other expectantly, but it was Franky who stepped forward first.

"I don't mean to be Usopp, but how're you gonna do that?"

Nami stopped and held her hand behind her head, giving out a nervous laugh, "I haven't thought that far…"

"OI, THEY'RE PROBABLY EATING ALL MY MEAT! DAMN IT; THOSE BASTARDS!"

"THAT'S NOT HOW TIME TRAVEL WORKS, IDIOT!" Franky, Nami, and Chopper knocked Luffy in the head simultaneously, sending him through at least a layer of earth with three giant bumps atop his skull. Brook's jaw was unhinged playfully while Robin chuckled to herself; the normal set up of what usually would happen in this situation. Except… there were three people missing. During something like this, Sanji and Zoro would be fighting in the background, and you couldn't miss their bickering, and it would be Chopper, Usopp, and Brook who would all huddle together and make the scene that more funny and delightful. Yet there was no Usopp, there was no Sanji, and there was no Zoro. There was no more cheers or shouts at Luffy… only silence. That's because the truth hit them… Sanji, Zoro, and Usopp were gone, and no one knew where they went.

"Zoro… Sanji… Usopp…" Tears began to form in Chopper's eyes as he interrupted the silence with his quiet sniffling. Even Luffy was quiet during this time, obviously thinking about where his nakama were now.

"What should we do now?" Brook looked around; the mood had eased and they were all silent, either eyes lowered to the ground or looking out amongst the friends they had here.

It was Robin who stepped forward and took the lead on the scenario. She leaned down, her frown holding, "Nami, what did you add onto your weapon to create the time portal?"

Nami seemed somewhat surprised but didn't hesitate, "Ah, oh… it was a weird combination of different devil fruits." Nami turned to her Clima Tact and held it up for Robin to see. She lifted her finger as she began her explanation, "I heard that in a human, if the user would consume more than one devil fruit, they would explode with no trace, right? So I had collected fragments of a couple devil fruits over time and somehow, if I revise the Clima Tact to the point so that when I would activate it, the "air" could supposedly "eat" both devil fruits, then the air would initially "explode", and from the impact, a hole in time would be created."

"The air can eat devil fruits? I don't get it." Luffy had broken the somewhat saddened mood with his idiocy and that somehow got a chuckle out of a few of the Straw Hats, brightening the atmosphere.

Franky curled his lip, smoothing his long hair with his robot hands, "Huh? I don't get it either, but it's _super_ interesting."

"So then, what went wrong? Why did the portal close?" Chopper sniffed, looking around, and eventually rested his eyes on Nami, who seemed the one most likely to know the answer to his question.

Nami sighed, rubbing the back of her neck, "It was still kind of experimental, so I had a few ideas of what would happen after I actually _activated_ the Clima Tact, but never something like this."

"By all calculations, all we have to do to make another portal, is to find two devil fruits then, right, Navigator." Robin smiled softly, looking over at Nami who was taken aback by the statement, but nonetheless determined.

It was obvious she was considering the thought, and when she shrugged her shoulders and said "I guess so…", that was close enough to a "yes" if Luffy's ever heard one.

Luffy placed his hand on his hip, his right arm straightened above his head, "Yosh! All we gotta do is find two devil fruits. Then we can save Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp!" He smiled, the mood completely changed from when they first began the discussion and that was something they all appreciated.

Franky waved his hand, his smile curved around half his face, "He seems pretty motivated all of a sudden."

"You're right." Robin perked up, holding a hand over her mouth as she grinned.

"Yo-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho! Another adventure; I can practically smell it! Ah, but I don't have a nose…" Brook chuckled, looking around for someone to announce how funny he was or just some form of acknowledgement.

Nami smirked, placing her hands on her hips while looking down at Chopper who seemed the most out of it out of all of them, "We've got to save them; so mine as well. I'm pretty sure those two knuckleheads will help out Usopp if he needs it, anyway."

Chopper seemed to understand and raised his head, his large eyes lifting when he sighed anxiously, "Why do I have the feeling this is going to turn out really bad?"

"Now you're beginning to sound like Usopp." Nami nudged him in the side playfully, earning a quick laugh from the reindeer afterward.

The plan was set, and there was no going back now. They were going to save their friends and bring them back. Luffy shot his fists forward, his cheeky smile warm with adventure, "Wait for me, Usopp, Zoro, and Sanji! Don't eat all the meat!"

 _ **-End Prologue-**_

 **Somewhere off in the distance…**

Usopp craned his neck while rubbing his nose, muttering irritatedly while he began to pick himself off the ground. Wait… what had just happened. Where's the… his eyes began to focus on his surroundings and slowly, but surely, Usopp began to realize that this was _not_ the forest. In fact… his gaze followed the horizon until it abruptly stopped, covered by a mass of steel and iron that stood in front of him. This shouldn't surprise him… after everything he's been through, not in the slightest; sighing, he tightened his grip on his hat and lifted his goggles from his eyes.

"Damn it, Nami, where am I?" He took his hand and covered his eyes, shading his vision from the sun that beamed intensely above him. Well, at least the mood wasn't bad, but he still didn't know where he was.

Even though he had the idea that he was most definitely on an island, because of the sea that was stretched out in front of him, that didn't comfort him in the slightest. Wasn't every landmass an island anyway? This was insane, he felt so lost. Usopp stopped, his voice dropping in a hoarse whisper of realization, "Ah, now I know how it feels to be Zoro."

He took his hand from his eyes and placed his fist in the palm of his hand, "This is not the time, Usopp; there could be danger lurking around every corner…" Out of reaction, Long-nose quickly swung around, pointing Kabuto towards whatever danger was supposedly behind him, that he of course had initially stopped because he had sensed it before it struck and just because he was that great of a… oh, there's nothing there.

Tears began to dramatically run down his face as he gripped his slingshot tighter out of sheer loneliness and fear, "Noo, I don't like this scary island!"

Usopp stopped, a sharp shiver running down his spine and spreading out to the rest of his body. This was not good. He shrieked at the sound of loud cries in the distance along with gun sounds and battle cries. Fear struck him in flash; what was that? He gasped, his eyes widening. Ghosts maybe… or zombies?

He covered his hand over his mouth, his voice hushing into a whisper, "Ahh, I'm starting to come down with my Can't-go-anymore-onto-this-island disease!"

"Oh, wait. I'm by myself."

A bead of sweat fell from his forehead while he began to take his first few steps forward; Kabuto held straight out with one hand while the other was readied with a Sure Kill: Green Star if need be. The ground, he noticed was rough and seemed untouched for the most part, but wait… why was he worried about the ground? Was he just using that as a distraction from the real dangers that were hidden on this island? He could die any minute out here on this strange territory if he wasn't careful. Noo, where was that trio of idiots when he needed them most?

He looked around cautiously, hopefully believing that this was just an island without any life at all… then he'd be safe. That would probably make the island scarier though, "Damn, where's a Navigator when you need one?"

He focused his hand back over his forehead and then lowered his eyes in awareness, "Oh yeah, she pushed me into the portal."

"Where do I go? Where am I? What year is it?" He began to break down, his knees buckling from under him while he raised his head to the sky, "I'm 105% sure I'm going to die."

The noises seemed to somewhat enclose him, as if they were coming from all over. He began to panic but pulled himself back together. Right, let's get this straight. "Okay, let's see… the sea, and… there's a giant building behind me." Usopp squinted his eyes when he looked at the massive fort-like building that stood behind him. It seemed to go on for a while, and maybe he could get help from whoever or whatever lived there; fingers crossed that they're friendly.

The noises seemed to get louder and for some reason, he could feel the presence of hundreds of things as he approached the building. Realizing that, he silently chuckled, lifting his finger to his chin, "Well, I can tell something's over in that direction. So that means… I'll go the other way."

 **-xXx-**

Pirate versus Navy; who was going to win? That was the question that everyone asked themselves. The fight had been going on for over thirty minutes sure, but no one was really keeping count, except for maybe the public that was surely watching. The Buggy Pirates had been holding up a Transponder Snail aimed at their beloved captain, Buggy, in hopes of making him famous for the future, but as the domino events unfolded, the camera somehow seemed to get more and more forgotten. Sengoku was the "big boss" on the side of the Navy, or the "good side" you could call it, depending on your perspective, while Whitebeard stood on his ship, tall and proud of his leading role as "Pops". This war had more than just two outcomes because it wasn't an "if you win, you win" or "if you lose, you lose" scenario. No; if you won, there were many losses, and if you lost, well… then you'd probably be dead.

For the Whitebeard pirates, Ace was their main goal; if they saved him, they could "win" the war. The Navy's desire, though, was to put a stop to that. Thus, they fought. Battle cries, shouts of intimidation, yells and screams, and then sometimes silence followed. It was a horrific sight, and not everyone wanted to fight, either. In fact, no one really wanted to fight at all. Sure, there were always some who relish at the idea of a battle to the death, but for the most part, this was a job; both sides fought for justice, but both have a different meaning of the word. If you picked the wrong side, you would lose. Everyone loses, no matter who wins, but it's the side that loses more that will hurt the most. The question was; did you pick the right side?

 **…**

"Ohh, you Whitebeard pirates are mean and scary." He wasn't lying, either. Kizaru shot out his hand, blocking one of Marco's blows to the side of the head while Marco seemed unscathed, flipping backwards and landing on his feet with a sleek smile spread across his face.

"Heh, well, Pops always said that we were pretty troublesome fighters." He rubbed off whatever blood had been stained on his lips and took to the sky. His wings had began to spark with fire and with one swing of his blue-flamed wings, he was in the air, thirty feet above Kizaru. Kizaru didn't seem too surprised when Marco twisted his entire body, diving straight down, picking up speed the more his altitude began to drop. It wasn't too impressive when an attack took more than ten seconds to land a single blow, Kizaru noted. When Marco seemed close enough, he sent a blast of air-cutting wind straight towards Kizaru's way, but this was barely above nothing. Kizaru disappeared with a sudden flash of yellow light, and appeared on Marco's right side, aiming a kick to the side of his head but missed when Marco too, disappeared out of sight. Smirking, Marco let out a shout before fully immersing himself in a fury of blue flames.

Oh, what was this? Kizaru seemed to become more and more intrigued with the boy's Devil Fruit power. A Mythical Zoan… interesting. The thought didn't last long when Marco swung around and dove down from the sky again, his wings tightening at his side when he began to pick up speed.

Kizaru crossed his arms out of instinct, a series of yellow beams following one after another, aimed straight for the Phoenix. Without worry, Marco allowed them to pass right through him with no injury, to Kizaru's surprise. Taking the opportunity, Marco let out a yell, creating a single fire blast and quickly sending the seeking blue ball of fire straight towards Kizaru.

Marco the Phoenix, the 1st Division Commander of the Whitebeard pirates definitely lived up to his name. He could use Haki too, which made it that more of a difficult time for Kizaru, but, just having Haki and a Devil Fruit wasn't enough to stop him. Without trouble, Borsalino allowed the fire ball close enough to his body to where he could feel the heat of the blast, just to make the game more fun. However, before it got any closer, Kizaru vanished with a trace of yellow light and allowed the blast to strike the ground with a force strong enough to create a bigger crater than the one Straw Hat had made with his flying attack he had used to greet his crew.

Kizaru let out a gasp of relief and a chuckle while Marco folded his wings, his beak shortening into an actual nose and his red flaming hair lightening into its natural, bright yellow pineapple-head shape. There was a sense of excitement within Marco's gaze, but there was also a sense of, "I'm going to kill you." in there too, something Kizaru had seen so much that he just laughed it off now.

"Mah, looks like I won't be able to get past you so easily, now." Kizaru lifted his lip in his signature smirk while Marco raised his head, revealing his teeth as his smile nearly pulled to his cheeks for the first time.

"Hm; you can try." Marco replied shortly, letting out a piercing holler before immersing himself in blue flames once again, his arms surrounded by a sea of flames shaped like a phoenix's wings. No warning was implied when he shot forward faster than Luffy's Gomu gomu no Rocket, aimed directly as if he was going to land a blow straight to Kizaru's gut. Kizaru in response nonchalantly dodged the attack, not even believing the sharp grin that lifted on Marco's lips when he faked the gut kick and went for the side of the head instead. Amusement was plain across Kizaru's face as he perked his lips and rolled his eyes to stare directly at Marco's ferocious kick that had been blocked with a quick switch of his hand. They were at a stand still and Kizaru just felt the need to aggravate the boy even more.

"Oh, this is definitely working!"  
"You liar." Marco was irritated and raised his eyes in reply. Allowing himself a few feet back, Marco pushed himself off the ground while raising his wings as he soared above Kizaru with the idea of a surprise attack in mind. His pupils tightened when Kizaru raised his hand to shoot him down. Not a chance. "Phoenix-" Marco raised his wings while Kizaru let out more light beams aimed directly towards him.

There was a difference in their objectives besides the fact that Kizaru was a Navy Admiral and Marco was the 1st Division Commander for the Whitebeard pirates. Marco had a goal, and sure, so did Kizaru, but unlike Marco, Kizaru had no relation to the 2nd Division Commander that was said to be executed in a matter of minutes or so. Ace was Marco's friend; best friend in fact. Actually, in a sense, you could say they were such good friends, that you thought they were brothers; that's happened to them before. It makes them brothers anyway if all of the pirates have Pops as the same father, but this was different. They've both been to hell and back and somehow still manage to survive. No matter what, they've always been there for each other. Ace was someone worth fighting for; someone Marco would die for without hesitation, and in all honesty, he hated to admit it but yeah, he kind of does miss when that idiot would fall asleep in the middle of a meal. Then he could have an excuse to hit him over the head or steal his food without him knowing… he missed that. But there was no reason to keep missing it if he could save him. Just the idea of Ace dying… no, it wasn't possible, and he wasn't going to think about it. What's important is doing whatever he can to prevent that, and with the help of Straw Hat's weird crew, they can win this.

"Geon!" Marco swung his wings forward with a fiery, powerful shockwave that forced even Kizaru back a little. The shockwave hit with a crash and Kizaru had trouble to keep up with it, and it hit him directly, sending him to the ground with one swift blow. Marco lowered himself from the sky, landing on his two legs with his arm clutched in one hand. That attack damaged him too; nothing too serious, but he could tell that it hurt that Navy bastard and damn, that felt good.

Kizaru brushed himself off, visible dust and cuts across his face and clothes. Maybe not a lot, but there were some, "Ow, that one stung a little." He mused, even though he wasn't faking. That was a big attack, and even though it look like it took him head-on, he had somehow managed to escape the blast a little bit. A full on hit from that large of an attack would have caused more damage. Kizaru faced Marco and clasped his hands together. It was his turn. Pulling them slightly apart, he revealed a light-bladed sword that had come out of thin air like a magician's act, "Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven."

Marco spit to the side, "What the hell kind of name is that." Kizaru disappeared and reappeared directly in front of Marco in less than a second. Marco's legs were already morphed into bird-like talons and that gave him ample time to block Kizaru's neck-aimed sword blow with ease.

Marco let out a thin laugh, "Wow, this definitely hurts."

"Liar." Kizaru replied, his smile fading as he retaliated with another sword blow to the back of Marco's head that Marco blocked as well. They were equal, it seemed like, and this was going to be a long fight.

"I'll take you down, and then save Ace!" Jozu growled, holding his fists tightly at his side while diamonds seemed to cover half of his entire body.

"Don't be ridiculous." Aokiji answered coldly, lifting his hands as he gazed out at the diamond man that stood before him, "Ice Block: Partisan!" Six ice kunais had formed around his side while ice seemed to climb up his body in the meantime. "How can you get to Portagas when you haven't beaten me yet?"

Jozu gritted his teeth, but watched the kunais path as all six made its way towards his body. A shockwave spread across his body as the diamonds completely encased him within the next second. He allowed each kunai to hit him, and when it did, the ice from it splattered across his body, but he shook it off, to his relief. Aokiji didn't seem surprised, but tired. Tired of everyone and everything and that was something that Jozu had to be careful of. When Aokiji was irritated, things probably wouldn't end well for either of them.

Jozu allowed the diamonds to retract, only covering about a quarter of his body including his right arm this time. "I haven't fought a single person that's lived to tell the tale." He grinned, forcing himself back into a fighting stance while Aokiji closed his eyes in thought and opened them mere seconds later with a new expression of ferocity on his face.

"Neither have I…" He answered confidently, but paused afterward, allowing an awkward silence to fill the gap between the enemies. His eyebrows raised in confusion while he straightened himself, pulling his hand back to his chin in realization, "No, wait, I have, but you're not going to be able to." He paused again to let the words sink into his opponent but there was no effect. Was he wrong again? "That's not right… well, whatever."

Aokiji dashed forward towards Jozu, who was struck in the confusion in the heat of the moment. In a quick response, Jozu dug his hands deep into the ice plastered ground and lifted up the large iceberg-like dirt block that acted as a shield to Aokiji's distanced ice blasts. Aokiji stood with his eyes narrowed as if he was waiting for his opponent to make the wrong move while Jozu, on the other hand, had no intention of letting go of his makeshift "shield". It was only when Marco had suddenly appeared by his side, shot backwards from a flying kick attack from the light Admiral, that he felt safe to drop the dirt shield. Marco skidded to a halt when Jozu dropped the ice block with a grunt, allowing the two Whitebeard Commanders direct eye contact with the two Navy Admirals, who stood side by side next to each other.

"How's it going on your end, Marco?" Jozu smiled widely while Marco shot him a quick glance, his frown turning into a short smirk. Neither Jozu nor Marco was one to show their emotions specifically in battle, but no one said anything about excitement.

"Not too shabby, I'd say. How about you?"

"Hah, I haven't even attacked him back yet." Jozu laughed back, raising his fists as the shining ore seemed to crawl up his arm and run down the back of his neck.

Marco's eyes narrowed as the blue flames became one with his body once again, "Well, let's change that."

"Do you give up yet?" Aokiji asked, turning his head to the side as if he actually expected the two Whitebeard pirates to reply with "yes".

Marco scoffed, "Give up? We're just getting started."

Marco seemed the one to react first, his grin fading as the blue flames seemed to grow larger the more they covered his body while Jozu reacted to Marco's transformation. Just as Marco's flame, Jozu's diamonds began to run down his arms and slither up his neck slowly, as if he was purposely taking a while just to make the fight that more dramatic. Kizaru and Aokiji didn't have to even glance at each other to know what they had to do: Kizaru crossed his arms, his fingers curling over one another while Aokiji lifted his hand from his side, aiming his palm directly at both pirates at one time.

To the Admirals, for once, it was kind of nice having a somewhat equal match in a one on one instance. Sure, Kizaru was slow and Aokiji was lazy, but everyone has their short thrill of fighting sometimes. No one would go as far as getting "adrenaline" rushes, but they were both impressed that the two Whitebeard pirates lived up to their high expectations. Hell, they _were_ probably if not as nearly as strong as the Admirals. That was to be tested out later.

Marco the Phoenix and Diamond Jozu shot forward as one, their eyes locked with their opponents as if this was life or death, and in this case, it probably was.

"Brilliant-"

"Phoenix-"

Aokiji watched Jozu's attack aimed for him and decided that he would not move from his spot. There was no need to. Kizaru thought similar, but having someone who could fly and regenerate was a little more difficult to deal with. They began their attacks as well:

"Ice time-"

"Comma Jewel-"

A loud explosion and all four let out their mixture of each element; a fiery flame and a rough spread of diamond were mixed together while a sheet of ice was combined with a shining light as the four attacks seemed to hit each other at the exact same time.

"Punk!"

"Restoration!"

"Capsule!"

"Eight Shaku!"

 **-xXx-**

Luffy's head was racing with different emotions all clustered together. He wasn't certain if he should be determined and vexed about the fact that Ace was going to be executed anytime now or glad and excited that part of his crew was finally here with him. There was one certainty though, that no matter what, he was going to save Ace. His mind was set on it, and once Luffy's got his mind set on it, whether it be traveling to a scary island or fighting against all Four Emperors at once, there's no going back. If you think he's the type of man to back down and hide in fear just because some big name shows up, you're following the wrong man. You best watch out, though, because if you get in his way, hell, you better say your prayers.

Luffy grit his teeth as he stared up hopefully at his big brother, who was chained mercilessly to the platform, sea-stone cuffs over both arms. Ace was going to be fine, you just wait and see, was all Luffy could think about. He had Zoro, Sanji, Jimbei, and Ivankov, and sure…even Buggy. He had Whitebeard, one of the four Emperors, and over a thousand pirates to back him up. He had all the Division Commanders, the Subordinate crews, and his determination and faith to keep him going. This was it. There's no way they're going to lose to that stupid Navy. Playtime's over, the real war begins now.

"Gear Second!" Luffy planted his fist in the dirt and waited for his body to turn a shining red with steam rolling of the skin. He shot forward in a flash and knocked over ten Marines with a Gomu gomu no Whip that was too fast for the normal eye. But things were getting bad, and fast. Marines began to surround him on every side, and Luffy didn't hesitate as he raised his fist in the air and called his crew, "Sanji!"

"Leave it to me!" Sanji dropped from the sky… how? No one knew, because no one had time to think. The fearless Straw Hat cook lifted his leg up as smoke began to rise from the bottom of it. Even Luffy moved out of the way for this attack, "Out of the way, you damn Marines!" The cook declared as the smoke became fire in an instant, "Diable Jambe… Poele a Frire…" As fast as Luffy, he shot out towards one half of the crowd of Marines. If you blinked, you missed his movement, no matter who you were. Sanji's entire body was immersed in a red flame as if his anger was fueling the fire. "Spectre!" He finished his attack by kicking furiously over and over again at each of the Marines, sending them flying, hiding, and ducking for cover. It was like a more advanced version of a Gomu gomu no Gatling, but with legs.

Even though he only blew away the Marines on one side, the other half seemed to startled to speak, and they almost missed the name "Zoro!" that the Straw Hat captain called.

"I know!" Zoro appeared out of thin air, his voice giving away his position, but it didn't matter anymore, the Marines were mincemeat anyway. Giving a slight pause in between his attack, he allowed Luffy just enough time to move out of the way, but he couldn't help but notice the sly smile across his captain's face. Zoro's eyes were narrowed with a demonic glare that already sent half of the crowd to its knees before he even began his attack, "One Sword Style: Lion Death Song!" He shot forward (an attack shared by both him and Brook), and held his sword straight out, much to the surprise of the Marines, who were suddenly holding their bodies in shock and awe, gasping for air before dropping to the ground when the swordsman sheathed his Kitetsu.

Jimbei held out his palm, sending a shockwave through an entire line of Marines before quickly glancing back to the Monster Trio, who were now fighting side by side against the higher ranking Marines. "It's clear; let's go!" The fishman called, and the Trio easily swept aside the two Navy captains and commander, following Jimbei as he took the lead towards Ace's platform.

Buggy raised his eyes and smirked, "Alright; if I just-AH!" Buggy's body flew above his legs and he suddenly realized that his torso was missing from his upper half. Looking down, he saw that he had been cut in two. What does this always have to happen to him? He swung behind him in rage at the sweating Navy soldier who had unfortunately cut him in half, "UNFORGIVABLE! You Navy bastards, do you want to mess with me!?" He dropped his words as well as his jaw when he felt a sword being pressed to his throat. Glancing over, he saw the sly-smirked blonde haired Vice Admiral that had stepped in for the lower ranking soldier.

A bead of sweat rolled down the side of Buggy's face while he laughed pitifully, raising his hand in a greeting, "Yo…"

Zoro's single eye was glowing with a demonic flare while his blades cut through the earth. He raised his eye as he watched Buggy run in the background, his arms above his head while he was shouting something inaudible while a blonde Vice Admiral chased him viciously. Tch, they couldn't waste time here.

"Luffy-kun, I had no idea you had friends this strong." Jimbei watched Sanji bury his foot in a commander's skull with ease while Zoro backed him up with a short swing of his black blade. Too easy.

Luffy allowed himself to give way to a slight smile at the mention of his nakama while he shot his rubber arm forward and retracted it with a spin, "They're a lot stronger, too."

"Seriously?" Ivankov ran up beside Luffy, debating whether or not Luffy was entirely correct; the moss-head was now yelling insults at the spiral-cook all the while trying to be taken down by the foes surrounding them. Great, more fighting.

Luffy snapped his eyes forward, darting them from the fight in front of him to Ace's platform. It didn't look like they were moving ahead with the execution yet; that's good, but they still needed to hurry. Wow, it wasn't like him to give an observation. He noted that, but he probably wouldn't remember. Luffy gave a shout and planted his feet in the ground, allowing his Gomu gomu no Axe to slam down on the few Marines that still stood in front of him. When he finished his attack, however, he lost his footing and that caused Luffy to lose his balance and fall straight in the arms of a Navy captain that had no intention of going easy on the boy. The blue-haired captain managed to cut Luffy at the tip of his chin and continued his attack with a Flintlock gun that he pulled out of his side. That was his first mistake. He shot five bullets, all landing a direct hit on the rubber boy, but, that was his second mistake. He didn't run… shit. Luffy arched his back and fired the bullets back at the captain, never missing one. With a quick jump, he continued to fight everyone and everything that stood in his way between him and Ace.

Luffy was just about to backfist a Navy soldier, but paused when he heard a, "Hey, Luffy!" out of nowhere.

Confused, he turned towards the voice and stared up at Sanji, who had a determined smirk on his face and was the potential person who called him. "Huh?" Luffy asked.

"I'm going on ahead!"

Without warning, Sanji leaped from his spot and began to jump on what it seemed like, invisible blocks in the air. Luffy watched as Sanji began to fly higher and higher in the air before he stopped, spinning and bolting forward straight towards the platform. Sanji's in the air? SANJI CAN FLY? "Ohh; Sanji's in the air!" Wait, he's seen that move before. Oh! That bird guy, back on Enies Lobby! "Like those people in the past!" He finished and watched with twinkling eyes as Sanji sped at unmatchable speeds towards the platform. If they continued like this then they would get to Ace's platform in no time. Luffy suddenly shook himself, his bright eyes lowering as he realized his distraction. "But I can't get distracted now. I've got to get to Ace."

Everyone was kind of surprised. No one could say "super surprised" because one, _super_ is Franky's thing and two, every person on Marineford had just seen a swordsman and a cook walk out of thin air from a time traveling portal about thirty or so minutes ago. It wasn't uncommon anymore for something to fly when it shouldn't really be physically possible. Take that Navy ship that was carrying everyone from Impel Down for example. Now that was an entrance.

"The more I stay with them, the more the impossible becomes possible." Jimbei watched, acknowledging Sanji who had just flashed by them with a short quick glance.

Ivankov sighed, waving his hand while a single bead of sweat rolled down his forehead, "It's vno longer surprising."

"That's Moonwalk from Cipher Pol. Where did a pirate learn that from…" Sengoku was more pissed than irritated, if that makes sense. How could the Cipher Pols be leaking their secret techniques so easily?

Garp frowned. Sengoku's plan at the beginning of the war was almost foolproof, except he didn't account for these brats from Luffy's crew to show up randomly out of a hole in time. "He'll be here in no time." Garp commented, glancing over at Sengoku who had narrowed his eyes and rolled up his sleeves. Sengoku was heated, Garp could tell easily, just because he's known him for a long time, but this war so far, was one of the biggest things they've ever done together.

Sengoku locked eyes with the Straw Hat's cook, "Unless we knock him out of the sky."

Garp didn't move, but his frown didn't fade either and he continued to stare at the yellow-haired boy with arms crossed over his chest.

Turning to the speaker on his waist, Sengoku unhooked it and held it to his mouth, his words calm but forceful at the same time, "What are you doing? Shoot him down!"

 **-xXx-**

"Damn, Sengoku. He always thinks he's one step ahead of everyone else." A hardy laugh escaped Whitebeard as he watched Sengoku wave his hands to point to the flying brat that had gotten the Marine's attention. It was almost time, and he smiled in amusement at the thought, "Not for too much longer, though."

 **-xXx-**

"Gomu gomu no, Whip!"

"Fishman Karate: Wanto Giri!"

"Death… Wink!"

"Three Sword Style: Tiger Trap!"

"Bara bara Punch!"

"Straw Hat!"

Luffy turned around to face a tall man with pink hair and an old guy with heart-shaped sunglasses and old grey hair. They had smugs on their face, but Luffy didn't really get why because he was just going to kick their ass anyway.

"How lucky of you to run into us. Say your prayers while you can!" The pink haired man that was not Coby stepped forward, his fist shaking in determination as he watched his collegue tip his Marine-logoed hat as if he was already accepting the fate that awaited him.

"How unfortunate; we've been training and we've become stronger, and now there's no way you can beat us, Straw Hat!"

Luffy cocked his head in confusion, cloudiness filling his head, but that was normal, anyway. "Um… who're you?"

The old guy dropped his jaw while the guy that wasn't Coby stepped forward, pulling his Marine hat off while pointing a thumb at himself, "I'm Fullbody! I still owe you for that time at the sea restaurant, Baratie! You let that barbaric cook join your crew and now that I'm stronger, you're dead-meat, Straw Hat!"

Luffy halted. What? Meat? "Huh?"

Fullbody allowed his partner to step forward, exchanging smirks as they passed by each other, "And I'm Jango! Don't tell me you've forgotten these Chakrams! With the help of the Navy, I've perfected Jango-sama's Hypnotism! You Meat-head, you probably don't remember, do you? Back in the Syrup-" Jango stopped speaking suddenly and gave out a short gasp of air before falling over on his side, still as the ground, for the most part. Fullbody jumped out of his skin and rushed to Jango's side in dismay and uncertainty, but ended up dropping to his knees beside him, falling on his back a second later.

Luffy was somewhat irritated with his swordsman, "Ahh, Zoro, you already cut them!"

"Heh, too slow." Zoro appeared at Luffy's side and sheathed all two of his three swords at once, pulling Shusui to his left hand.

"But they were saying something about meat-"

"You should be thanking me! Idiot, you only hear what your stomach hears." Zoro let out a "tsk" and closed his eye, irritated with his stupid captain. Now that the dumbass yellow-guy was gone, he had to cover for Luffy by himself, with the help of Jimbei and Ivankov of course. He hears meat and-

"Marimo-boy, behind you!" Ivankov shouted, interrupting Zoro's thought while simultaneously being the cause of another throbbing vein on the side of his head.

"It's Zoro!" Zoro flared, closing his eye softly while turning his Shusui slightly to the right when he felt the ground shake beneath his feet. A scything blast attacked his blade out of nowhere, but only lasted a second when Zoro threw the heavy flying slash attack aside like it was nothing, all the while, his eye still shut.

He didn't need eyes to feel the piercing glare of that man. Excitement gripped at his arm while his breathing suddenly tightened just a bit, but he continued to keep his eye softly closed. He couldn't wait; this was what he's been training for all this time. Surpassing that man was his goal, and becoming the greatest swordsman was his ambition. His brain yelled at him to swing around and face the hawk-eyed man then and there, but Zoro remained calm, his hand at his waist as he twisted his fingers around the handles of his two swords. Self-control and restraint was an important part of training too. A ringing noise sounded in his ear and his eye opened, revealing Ivankov in his field of vision. The guy's eyes were anxious, but Zoro dismissed him with a nod of his head, much to Ivankov's shock.

"Go on; I'll be fine."

Ivankov didn't believe it and it was obvious. He quickly turned to watch Jimbei and Straw Hat along with Buggy fade in the distance, before dropping his head, "Zolo-boy-"

"It's _Zoro_ , and don't wait for me. I'll catch up with you guys later; tell Luffy that."

Zoro finished his sentence with a sigh and finally turned to meet the man he was destined the beat. He knew he came from the future, but nothing was much different about the man. His face was the same, his outfit was the same, his golden-plated eyes were the same, and most definitely his sword was the same. He wanted to test how powerful he was against Hawk-eye Mihawk, and granted, in his present day, he might not have been able to beat that Mihawk just yet, but he still wanted to try his swords against this past version of him. Was he stronger? No, he didn't think so, but was he equal? He didn't know unless he fought the man. Hawk-eye had his hat tipped to where you could only see one of his hawk-like eyes, while his blade was outstretched in front of him. Yeah, there was only one man with that powerful of a flying slash attack.

Ivankov was already gone, not because he didn't feel like that Marimo-boy wasn't in trouble, but because he needed to tell someone about it. He had a hard time catching up to the four that were a little bit ahead of him, but made it before they turned and sprinted down the open path.

Jimbei turned to Ivankov, concerned as a figure was obviously missing from his side. "Where's Zoro-kun?"

"Vhe's facing off against Hawk-eye! He told me to tell Straw Hat-boy vhat he'll catch up with us later." Ivankov breathed, allowing the information to sink in to his friends. Buggy gasped, exclaiming things like "He's dead!" or something similar, and Jimbei's eyes widened with shock and disbelief. Luffy didn't seem all that surprised about it, which made Ivankov wonder.

"Does he not know who his opponent is?" Jimbei asked, landing a neck strike to a Navy member who had supposedly snuck up behind him.

Ivankov and Jimbei glanced at each other doubtfully while Buggy somehow remained silent. They were all looking at Luffy who held his eyes straight forward and his fists tight at his side, his face neither in a smirk or frown, but rather in a look of resolution and faith instead. "It's okay, he knows who he is. Zoro's strong; he trusts us so we have to trust him. Come on, let's go."

 **-xXx-**

"I've been waiting a long time to fight you again." Zoro drew Kitetsu and held it in his right palm, his left hand already holding Shusui. There was some sort of force between the two swordsman, and it wasn't like a blockade or a human or anything similar. No, it was definitely an invisible force, like a tension; that was a better word to describe it. The tension was not one of hate, nor resentment, but something… respect. That was it. They were both at a level to where they knew each other before swords clashed and they respected that, fully. Well, besides respect, on Zoro's half, it definitely took some guts to face this guy, he had to admit. There was a part of his brain that yelled at him _What the hell were you thinking_ while the other ninety-nine percent said _Bring it on._

Mihawk lifted his sword to rest on his shoulder, his tricorn tipping upwards so that his entire face was revealed. "It seems as if you don't need to wait any longer."

That's the spirit, Zoro thought as his gaze unknowingly traveled from Hawk-eye upwards to rest on Ace: Luffy's brother that he had met back in Alabasta that was hell of strong. If he recalled, the guy had a logia devil fruit that could create fire. He was uncaged, happy, and free at the time… not anymore. This Ace that Zoro saw wasn't pitiful, but somehow remained strong even in shackles and chains. He had scratches and bruises all over his body, blood escaping from the larger cuts from his right side. His expression, too, was as easy to read as the day; Ace was scared. Not scared for himself, no, not in the slightest, but for his little brother, Zoro's stupid kid-captain, Luffy. And that, Zoro respected him for. To be chained like an animal, have all hopes of living dragged away, and to still sit tall with no intention of saving yourself; that was a true man, he gave him that. A smile couldn't help but make its way onto Zoro's face when he gave Luffy a short glance over his shoulder. All for that guy, huh? He thought about himself for a minute; those words seemed familiar before. His glare moved from Luffy and dropped back to Hawk-eye, who stood in a readied stance in front of him. Heh, damn, you're just as excited as me, that's too bad.

Zoro took both swords and simultaneously sheathed them with ease, causing Mihawk to straighten his back in a short sense of confusion as to what the other swordsman was doing.

Zoro lowered his gaze and smiled, "No, it looks like I'll have to wait just a little longer. For him." A quick glance was covered over Luffy and then switched to Ace before resting back on the man that stood in front of him.

Mihawk blinked once before understanding, sheathing his own sword in reply. That surprised Zoro, he didn't think the master swordsman would go that far. Hell, that guy really was excited about this match, and he didn't want it to go to waste, that was for sure. Mihawk looked up once, his gaze locking with Zoro's with a hint of acceptance, question, and reason, "Why do you follow him?" The question wasn't surprising to Zoro, he's heard it before, but it was kind of surprising to hear it come from the man he had intended to beat one day.

Zoro closed his eyes again and held his small smile, "Heh, that's what it means to be a member of his crew. I follow him not just because he's my captain… but also my friend. I believe that if I follow him, then one day, I _will_ become the greatest swordsman; surpassing you, even."

Mihawk raised his head in his thoughtful reply. He too, smiled, something Zoro rarely ever saw, even during his two-year training, and dipped his head in respect. "Very well. Until then, I will hold this seat of the strongest and wait for you. When the hour is right, we will cross swords again, Roronoa."

Their eyes locked once more and they both saw each other's grins. When that time did come, he would cut that guy in half. Hawk-eye wouldn't make it easy on him though; he smirked. "Can't wait."

A loud shout and a man suddenly appeared in Zoro's vision, his sword against Mihawk's. When did Hawk-eye have time to draw his sword? And who the hell was this guy? "I've got him for now. Go on ahead; I won't be that long." The guy had a curvy black mustache with half-opened eyes and two swords that he had against Mihawk's black blade. Well, whoever this guy was, he read the situation wrong, but at least he was strong. Any other occasion and he would've yelled at the curvy mustache guy for interrupting him, but he was just leaving so, it was fine if Mihawk wanted a warm up before their real match.

"Commander of the Whitebeards' Pirates Fifth Division, Flower Blade Vista." Mihawk stated, his face plain and emotionless.

Vista chuckled and backed up, pulling his two swords to his side while red petals danced around his body, "Nice to meet you, Hawk-eye Mihawk. So you've heard of me?"

Zoro watched for a second before turning in acknowledgment; _When the hour is right, we will cross swords again, Roronoa_. He laughed; he wouldn't miss it.

 **-xXx-**

Sanji had been trying to go straight for Ace's platform for a couple minutes now, but it had proved difficult. Right when that Fleet Admiral announced the _What are you doing? Shoot him down_ , all the Marines focused their fire on him. He was swift though, so managed to dodge most bullets with ease, but a few snagged on his prized suit and that, he was not happy about. Sanji had to admit, they're gun fire was keeping him back, but not for long. He had looked down a minute before and saw that swordsman face to face with the guy he remembered as Dracule Mihawk, the greatest swordsman in the world. That brought back memories. Why was that idiot fighting him now? This wasn't the time. Luffy, Jimbei, the clown, and Ivan were all fighting together, nearing the platform; well, at least they had more sense than the stupid swordsman. Mid-thought, a bullet nearly caught on his sleeve but he pulled his arm out of the way and glared down at the one who had fired the shot. This was really getting goddamn annoying; I keep getting stopped by these Marines, he had thought, continuing his Skywalk as he flipped out of the way of another barrage of bullets.

Out of nowhere, a man with grey gloves wearing what seemed to be overalls appeared in front of him. So, he can Skywalk too? Maybe he was a member of Cipher Pol… this was interesting.

Sanji relit his cigarette, pulling it from his mouth while his gaze lowered over the man unimpressively, "Oh, I have a challenger."  
The man smoothed his short black hair and proposed a smile, "Ha, keep making jokes while you can. You're not the only one that can Moonwalk, you know."

Without warning, four other Marines seemed to appear behind him, all having to Skywalk to get up to him. There was a pause, but he was still being shot at by rockets, bullets, and everything, which he had done his best to avoid.

"We'll see about that." Sanji snorted, lifting his foot as he shot forward, catching all five of the flying Cipher Pol members off guard. They struggled to take a few steps back, but Sanji was to quick for them, "Diable Jambe Collier…" He lifted his leg and swung around, aiming a red, fire-flaming foot in each of their guts; doubling them over simultaneously and sending to the ground, "Strike!"

More bullets were shot at him out of reaction to the five Cipher Pol members that had been kicked out of the sky. They seemed more scattered than before, though, and that made his job a hole lot easier. Now that he wasn't really "stopped" by the bullets, he could go straight for the platform, no detours taken. He blew out a puff of smoke to satisfy him as he picked up speed in his step. If he was going to get this done right, he had to do it now.

 **-xXx-**

"Grass-head-boy-"

"It's not grass, it's _Marimo_!"

"Oh, Marimo-boy. Vi see."

"That's righ-NO IT'S NOT!" Zoro sighed and rubbed his head as if the guy's stupidity actually hurt him physically. "Damn it, it's not that hard." He turned to Buggy the Clown, who was a little ways in front of him… that was probably because he had been running away from a blonde Vice Admiral for about seven minutes now.

"What happened vwith Hawk-eye? Did vyou fight against him?" Ivankov landed next to Zoro when he finished his vicious hormone attack towards a few Marines that would never feel the same for the rest of their life.

Zoro lifted his head, "Heh, we'll figure it out after Ace is freed." He turned his head towards Luffy, who was now at the front of the group with Jimbei a little ways behind him. They had been fighting for close to an hour now, right? And it was still the beginning of the war too. Luffy crossed his fist over his chest and retracted his leg, his eyes having an unusual tint of red in them when a man with a long brown goatee and a Marine cap suddenly stepped in front of him, blocking his path.

"Not so fast, juahahahaha! I, Commander of the 151st Branch, Vuwhale Judd Crost, will be the one to take you down, Straw Ha-" Luffy sent a fatal fist through the commander's jaw and knocked him out cold, sending him through the ground in an instant.

"I'm sick of all these damn Marines blocking my way!" Luffy shouted, holding his fists in the air as steam began to roll of his body again, emitting a shining, tinted red color to the skin.

Zoro could tell that Luffy was getting annoyed; they all wanted to save Ace as fast as possible, but in all honesty, he really wasn't going all out. If he went all out, there wouldn't be anything left to save. Zoro didn't hesitate, but instead lifted his grin, "Then I guess it's time we kick it up a notch. What'd you say, Captain?"

Zoro turned his head back to where Luffy was, but Luffy was already gone, several feet in front of him, plowing through another wave of Marines. He mentally slapped himself but Jimbei pulled up beside him, shaking his head the same way Zoro did. "He's already gone…" Jimbei sighed.

"Well, I don't need his permission this time." Zoro bat away a bullet aimed for him and cut the gun in half, making the Marine who shot the bullet shivering on the ground in fear.

"Are you stupid?" Buggy suddenly appeared at Jimbei's side, waving his hand towards the idiocy of the green swordsman, debating whether or not he was as stupid as Straw Hat. No… no one is that stupid.

"Huh?" Zoro's eyes darkened as a shadow suddenly appeared over his face, forcing Buggy into a inferior position, a bead of sweat rolling slowly down the side of his head in nervousness.

"Oi, we're on the same side."

"Hurry! We have to catch up with Luffy-kun!" Jimbei called, pulling along Buggy and Zoro, who both nearly tripped, and Ivankov, who did trip.

 **-xXx-**

"Damn, those idiots are slow." Sanji watched as the five that he had been with were just barely made out amongst the sea of Marines because he was so far ahead of them. It was because they stopped to fight every battle, no doubt.

He had already reached the platform, or at least was about ten seconds away from it. A Giant Navy guy about as tall as that one giant from Thriller Bark had tried to attack him about a minute ago, but he had Concassered that bastard straight into the ground. He wasn't in the greatest mood at the moment, and he was sick of the Marines. He had come here for one thing; he was going straight to the platform. "I'll go straight for the prize and end this shitty war." He had finally said his thoughts aloud, not announcing it, but more spoken to himself. In response to his statement, his speed increased and the ten second countdown to the platform began.

Sengoku raised his head, his eyes narrowed as he readied his fist to hook the Straw Hat into the ground if need be while Garp stared peacefully at the flying brat, his arms folded across his chest while his mind wandered in thought. Ace looked up, eyes lowered as if he already knew what was going to happen to Luffy's friend.

Zoro scoffed, unimpressed as he turned away towards the Curly-eyed bastard for a split second, "Oh, the cook's on the move. I could care less about him."

"Go for it, Candy-boy!" Ivankov shouted, his hands cupped over his mouth.

Candy-boy… Sanji pretended not to hear that name again. He appreciated the encouragement (not from that moss-head idiot), but that only brought more unwanted attention to himself from both pirates and Marines.

Some of the Whitebeard pirates began to get worked up as Sanji seemed to be only a few seconds away from the platform now and the Fleet Admiral and Vice Admiral were currently doing nothing about it. "He's gonna do it! Yeah, Eyebrows!"

"Oh, there he goes." Kizaru raised his hand to cover his eyes from the sun but was kicked in the side by Marco, who had a bit of blood pouring down the side of his face from their previous battle.

"Eyes on the fight!" He shouted, his voice raising as he lifted his flaming phoenix wings to catch Kizaru's attention, "Beast Chain!"

Aokiji looked up, his eyes widening as he readied himself to shoot down the cook with some ice shot, but he was caught by Jozu, who had crashed into him head-on, knocking the wind out of him and sending him flying. Aokiji landed in the side of his own ice and slowly got to his feet, a splash of blood spilling from his lips, but he wiped it away with his sleeve.

"He thinks he can end this war that easily?" Akainu raised his hand, lifting himself from his seat and glaring straight at Sanji, his arm outstretched as his fingers began to melt and form red, liquid magma. He was in charge of this war, and he was going to be the one to change it for the better; justice always prevailed. Those who do not live by justice, do not deserve to live at all.

A sudden blast of fire was aimed directly at Akainu's hand and he had to step out of the way to avoid it. Akainu looked down scornfully at the two Division Commanders followed by the rest of their divisions from none other than the Whitebeard pirates. He didn't really know their names and he didn't really care, but he at least knew that the one that had attacked him was the commander of Division 15 while the other, who looked similar, was commander of Division 13.

Atmos, the 13th Division Commander, held a frown on his face, his two swords readied in a fighting position while Fossa, the 15th Division Commander, closed his lips around his cigar that hung loosely in his mouth; he too had two swords in both hands. There were about thirty or so pirates behind them, each with their own weapon and style… still not enough to stop the Admiral.

"Sakazuki!" Fossa called, his eyes narrowed while he pointed a sword at the magma Admiral.

Akainu hated when fools would kill themselves to protect another. His gaze switched from the Straw Hat cook to the two Division Commanders below, "My quarrel is not with you. Move." With that, the liquid hand he had aimed at Sanji was now aimed at the two divisions below. Drops of liquid had formed into a sudden wave of magma and it encircled them like a tornado, covering both divisions entirely. Now that that was taken care of, he had the other pest to deal with.

Sengoku readied himself, raising his arm while Sanji's ten seconds slowly ran out. He was at the platform and had suddenly dropped out of the sky now, but Vice Admiral Garp leaped off the ground, his eyes covered and facial expression emotionless, leaving Sengoku speechless.

Sanji's eyes widened as he realized that he was either going to hit the ground first or the Vice Admiral's fist; either way he was about to feel a lot of pain in a minute. As the Vice Admiral neared with his fist cocked back, Sanji's eyes widened when he recognized the man. "You-"

Garp slammed his fist on top of the boy's head and spiraled him into the dirt below, creating a hole and a cloud of smoke from his powerful punch. "You brats need to know your place!" He shouted, landing on the edge next to his grandson's execution platform that held the chairs of all three Admirals. For some reason, Akainu wasn't there anymore, and that made Garp confused sure, but that's not the only thing that was running through the Vice Admiral's mind.

Sanji stood himself up, dusting off his pants before slowly relighting his cigarette with a crack of his lighter, "Ow, that old man packs a punch. I expected as much from Luffy's grandpa." He lifted his head and blew out the smoke, "I knew it wouldn't be that easy."

"Garp! I didn't ask you to fight!" Sengoku yelled back in response, a vein popping out of the side of his head. He should have waited. Akainu was going to blast him out of the sky, and he too was readying his arm for a punch but no, he just had to take it for himself. Damn, Garp always did things his own way and that's what caused Sengoku most of the problems. By the way, where did Sakazuki go?

"The Navy hero-Monkey D. Garp!" Ivankov gasped, his eyes wide with shock when he mentioned the name.

"Garp…" Whitebeard tilted his staff a little, acknowledging the appearance of an old rival he knew was bound to join in at some time.

Pirates and Navy alike began to erupt in yells, the Navy especially, who were rooting and cheering for their god-like hero that had finally made his appearance known, "He finally shows himself!" A Marine stepped forward, his eyes wide with admiration towards the man.

"Yeah, that's cool and all, but do you not remember that the Straw Hats just went up against Aokiji and Kizaru…I don't think he-"

"Read the goddamn mood, Todd!"

"This early in the war too; the legendary hero of the Navy!"

Everyone was shocked, but when Garp crossed his arms and took a seatt in Admiral Akainu's chair, that made everyone all simultaneously marvel at the man.

"Vice Admiral Garp!" They finished and finally announced his name for all of Marineford to hear.

"Old man." Ace whispered, glaring over at his grandfather with a worried glance.

"Grandpa!" Luffy's eyes widen when he too shot his grandpa a quick glance before tumbling and continuing down the path that led to Ace's platform ahead of him.

Garp's frown slightly turned into a large smile, a trademark that most of the Monkey D.'s possessed, as he began his statement, "It won't be that easy! If you want to go further, you're going to have to do better than that!"

 **-xXx-**

"Nice try, there. _E_ for effort." Zoro held out his thumb while Sanji gritted his teeth, a flaming aura surrounding his entire body.

They had just caught up with him and because he had been shot back so far, it was as if Sanji was starting from square one again.

"Don't you mean _A_ , dumbass!?" Sanji gave a "tsk" and a mutter of a "shitty bastard" remark, but Zoro didn't apparently hear it.

Zoro raised his eyebrow, obviously attempting to irritate the cook. Well, his attempts were working. "Oh, a Class A dumbass? Yeah, you're right; that is a good name for you."

"You're changing my words around, you shitty Marimo!" Sanji had about three veins popping out of the side of his head by the time he finished his sentence, and like usual, the two began fighting each on the middle of the battlefield… in the midsts of all the other Marines… while being attacked. Shortly after, Luffy stepped in somewhat, his eyes raised towards Ace again and that took Zoro and Sanji's attention away from each other.

"You guys can't get passed my Grandpa easily. He's strong, and he doesn't hold back… oh, and he tried to kill me a bunch of times." Luffy realized the last part and had decided to throw that into the mix of "what you should know about my grandpa".

By the time Luffy finished, Jimbei and Ivankov had somewhat caught up while Buggy was hovering over the Trio, his upper half about two feet above their heads. Sanji shook his head, "I can tell. But, I was just testing his strength. The real guy, who I wanted to find out about, is the Fleet Admiral up there."

"Ehh? Why do you _want_ to fight the head of the Navy?" Buggy dropped the question and sighed, holding up his head with his hand in case it might come off from their stupidity, "No, it's because I'm surrounded by a bunch of suicidal morons."

Jimbei finally caught up to him and had been listening in this entire time, his eyes dead serious when he began, "He's right, Sanji-kun! Sengoku is a higher rank than the Admirals, and he's the only other person besides the Good Old Man that's controlling this war! He's also a user of the Hito-Hito no Mi fruit!"

Zoro laughed, something that drew all their eyes. "It's all just talk until I see it for myself." He smiled, straightening himself when he noticeably saw Jimbei begin to get frustrated. Buggy had given up and Ivankov was attempting to hold off the entire horde of Marines by himself. Luffy was… where was Luffy?

Jimbei tried to reason with the biggest idiots in the Grand Line and that was a mistake, "Our goal is to save Ace-san, and to _not_ kill ourselves in the process! Picking a fight with everyone you come across isn't an option!"

Luffy let a long shout and everyone looked his way, watching him actually pick a fight with everyone he came across. "You bastards-"

"That's an exception…" Jimbei sighed, realizing his mistake in his statement as a whole.

Sanji stood beside Zoro, but Zoro was the one to speak, his finger dug into his ear nonchalantly as if it wasn't that big of a deal to have a strategy beforehand. "There's no time to think. We just act; we can't just stop and think about our next attack in the middle of a battle." The argument seemed to get a little heated now that they had each explained their side.

Buggy backed up about ten feet, waving his hands while watching the four from a distance that he could still see them, but be out of their range in case someone decided to attack… he really hoped he wasn't in their range of attack, anyway. "Yooosh, I feel like it's times like this that I shouldn't get involved…for my own safety."

Ivankov ignored Buggy and stood beside Jimbei with a look of worry on his face, "That's vwhy we're thinking now, Zohi-boy…"

"How are you getting further away?!" Zoro commented angrily, obviously referring to his name that Ivankov just didn't seem to get.

Sanji placed his hands behind his head, moving his cigarette around with his teeth like he had nothing better to do, "I don't want to agree with that stupid swordsman but he's right; we don't have time to think-"

"Whatever, let's just beat them up; let's go!" Luffy complained, shouting something in the distance with his arm raised while Zoro let out a quick snicker and Sanji huffed in irritation towards the fact his captain just interrupted him on his first words in a while.

"That's what I said in the first place." Zoro nodded, running after Luffy and joining him in the attack of… fighting everyone he came across.

"That one never thinks." Sanji shook his head sorrowfully, his eyes suddenly drifting from one idiot to the other, resting on Zoro, "Neither does that one."

"It can't be helped; Ace-san's life is on the line." Jimbei's mood completely changed as he watched Sanji run after his crewmates, who were already yelling at each other about something that either no one heard or no one cared to hear.

"Idiots… there's idiots verywhere…" Ivankov began to cry dramatically, mentally face-palming himself. He was practically the only normal one here. Why did he decide to join this crew for the day?

"I'm going to die here…" Buggy whispered, sympathizing equally with the guy next to him.

A soft, sharp high-pitched sound came from behind the group and a yellow beam flashed towards them in a quick instant, allowing them a single second to dodge out of the way. It was aimed at Buggy and Ivankov, who were forced to dive forward, the heat of the blast teasing their skin while scorching a part of their clothes.

The beam blew up behind them, emitting a large yellow dome that exploded within the blast range. Everyone looked where the blast had blown up, especially Buggy and Ivankov, who were nearly caught in it, but their heads turned when a familiar man appeared in their peripheral vision. Ivankov's eyes widened with shock and Zoro raised his eyebrow just slightly towards the bear man that had finally made his appearance towards them.

"Bartholomew Kuma!" Ivankov gasped grudgingly, his eyes filled with confusion as he watched the man slowly walk towards them in large steps.

Buggy turned to Ivankov, "Oi, oi, do you know him?" He asked slowly, his eyes drifting from the bear man back to Ivankov several times over.

Everyone knew Bartholomew Kuma except for Buggy. Granted he had probably heard of the name somewhere but he hadn't met him in person and witnessed the real deal… also, he wasn't really paying attention. Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji had witnessed the true power of him with his Paw-Paw fruit on Thriller Bark (Luffy may have been unconscious but he was still there), Jimbei had met Kuma somewhere before he was a Warlord, and Ivankov was his partner in the Revolutionary Army.

Ivankov shook his head… this had to be fake. Kuma was a double agent, spying for the Revolutionary Army, so why was it that he was hostile towards him? Sure, he got that Kuma had to keep a low profile and _pretend_ to be on the other side, but he had almost killed him with that blast… that was a real blast, and Ivankov knew the limit to Kuma's power; they've been together for so long. This was ridiculous something's not right, "Yeah." He answered Buggy, his eyebrows furrowing when he locked eyes with Kuma, "Hey, how could you-"

Kuma didn't give Ivankov a chance to finish when he unhinged his jaw entirely and shook his head violently, receiving an unexpected fearful reaction from Ivankov, who widened his eyes while ducking his head into the ground to avoid yet another blast.

Buggy began running around, attempting to get away from the maniac that was trying to kill them… wait, that was pretty much everyone here, while Luffy turned around finally, recognizing the Kuma guy in an instant. Sanji acknowledged the guy, at least giving him a glance, recalling the past when the Warlord had put that Marimo guy through hell. Never did he think that he would meet him again. He turned to the swordsman, who had been silent this entire time, merely watching. That guy sacrificed himself and was left on the brink of death all to save a friend, and it was because of that bear Warlord. How could he be so calm? Zoro seemed to lower his eyes when Sanji finished his thought and gave him a sharp glare, which he in response scowled and turned the other way. Did the Marimo just read his mind or was he just hallucinating?

Luffy clutched his head, running his hand through his raven colored hair, "That's the bear guy that blew us away!" He spoke, recalling the events that occured on Thriller Bark not to long ago.

"Him…" Zoro stopped, somehow getting a little bit distant with his presence as well as his soft words. It's been over two years since that incident, but he never forgot that day. No way he could forget what happened that day.

"That guy…" Sanji glanced over to Zoro, who still had his arms loosely at his side and his eyes focused straight ahead, narrowed and emotionless. Nothing too out of the ordinary, but there was a small indent in the moss-head's cheek, which was a bit unusual… the guy was biting his cheek from the inside of his mouth; that set a weird alarm off in Sanji's head.

Jimbei had switched roles with Ivankov and had been fending off most of the few Marines who were brave enough to approach them while the Warlord had them in their sights.

"Ivan-chan!" Luffy called, beginning a sprint that was put on hold when Ivankov hollered something back in reply.

"No, Straw-Hat-boy!" He stated without looking at him, his cold eyes set on the silent Warlord in front of them. "Leave vhis to me and go on ahead. I want to figure vhis out myself."

His voice had lowered with his last few words and that made Luffy realize that he was serious. Whatever Ivan-chan had to do with the bear-like guy, that wasn't his business and he would leave that up to his friend to take care of him.

"Okay." Luffy answered easily, entrusting Ivankov completely to handle the Warlord. Ivankov smiled in acknowledgement and Luffy nodded in reply; a simple agreement that they had discussed without any words at all.

He had suddenly turned and passed Jimbei, who was watching Ivankov nervously, and Zoro and Sanji, who were wordlessly staring at what seemed to be the start of a long battle, below. Buggy had his arms crossed, watching from a distance to make sure that he didn't get blown up again by that weird guy.

Luffy felt his back to ensure that his prized straw hat was still there. Never was he more happy to feel a weird lump of straw on top of his shirt that he immediately grinned at. When he had broken into a run shortly after, his eyes had locked with each of his friends as he ran past them, "Let's go; Ivan-chan's gonna take care of him."

They followed him both loyally and quietly, some turning their heads to occasionally look back at the small half-naked man standing against the so far, unbeatable bear Warlord that was four times his size. That's probably why everyone called him a bear.

They were somewhat back on track, as if nothing had happened, only with one less member. Zoro hadn't really talked this entire time and Sanji bit harder on his cigarette, giving the man a quick glance over his shoulder. It's not that he wasn't alright, and it's not like he wanted to check up on him, but no matter what, they were still nakama. "Oi, you good, Marimo?"

Zoro snapped his head back into reality. Had he been daydreaming? He had kept his eyes forward, but just as he had felt Hawk-eye's glare, he could feel the cook's too. He felt a little uncomfortable but didn't show it. Did he just ask if he was alright? He didn't really think about it but the Kuma thing kind of did bother him and he guessed that's what that idiot was probably referring too. So he did care. Zoro scoffed, clearly taking this opportunity, a soft, teasing smile playing on his face, "What, you worried about me, dumbass?"

Sanji caught on and laughed, spitting to one side in irritation. He thought that he was worried about him? Stupid moss-head. "Yeah right; in your dreams, shit-head."

"Look; we're almost to the wall!" Jimbei noted, letting the rest of the group to slowly look up the tall wall that separated them from Ace. This was one of the last barriers. Then they could… wait… Luffy put a hand over his forehead as his eyes suddenly drifted from the center of the wall over to where the wall seemed to have a hole. There was debris and a giant green thing on the ground, sprawled out and unmoving.

"What's that…" Luffy asked, looking around and expecting an instant answer.

"It's huge…" Buggy dropped his words, squinting his eyes as he tried to see more details of the figure.

Jimbei paused and followed both of their gazes, landing on what looked like a giant from this far away. Wait, that was a giant. "That looks like… Oars. Jr?" Jimbei's face paled, his fists tightening as he closed his eyes, his voice lowering in sorrow, "It seems as if he was trying to save Ace-san."

"Oars…hmm…" Luffy paused, scratching the side of his head as if he was trying to really think for once. You could tell he got it when he shouted and everyone took a step away from him, "AH, that's the guy that took over my body!"

"No, you're thinking of Moria. Oars was the giant's body your shadow was stuck in." Sanij knew that he wasn't going to get it right and it was alright because he was there to correct him.

Luffy scratched his head again, turning his gaze from Sanji back to Oars Jr., his voice still full of question, "Oh, are you sure?"

A vein popped out of Sanji's head, "Yes, you idio-"

An explosion and their vision was covered with dust… not again, damn it.

"What the hell-"

"Wha-what's happening?"

They really couldn't see who it was this time, but Zoro and Sanji felt the presence of someone strong. This was someone they knew and have met before, and who probably knew their names too. A silhouette of a figure appeared, along with the outline of a cigar hanging from his lips. Though he only looked as if his entire body was dust-colored, there were some brighter features that stuck out to them a little more. Well, that's great. Now they've got another strong guy after them again. It can't be helped; after all, they were in the middle of a war. The figure scoffed, smoke lifting from his cigar as he lowered his voice in a menacing tone, "Straw Hat."

 **-xXx-**

 **Ha, just kidding there's actually a lot of authors notes down here C:. Okay, I'll be honest: I haven't been watching One Piece and I'm kinda stuck on episode 605. I know in general what happens where the Straw Hats fight Mingo and Sanji's world goes to hell after that, so I think I'll be okay, but if I miss anything crucial parts to the future Straw Hats (Zoro, Sanji, or Usopp), then feel free to tell me. As for the time period that the future Straw Hats are from, I'm unsure, but I know for sure that the time period exists from after Doflamingo's defeat; lol, I didn't think this through. I just don't want them to be from the time period of Sanji's hell because Sanji is supposed to be this cool, fun, badass guy whose rival is Zoro and captain is Luffy, not the Sanji during the Whole Cake Arc.**

 **Next chapter, I'm going to focus more on everyone else's thoughts and ideas about the situations and the battle's that their fighting with both the pirates and the Navy side, so it might be a little shorter idk. This chapter makes up for it though lol. So expect people like Sengoku, Garp, Whitebeard, Coby, the Admirals, and maybe even the not-so-notable people of the war, like a few of the Commanders and what not. Oh, Usopp will be there too :D. That's all I'm going to say for now, but thanks for keeping up with me and my problems, and the fact that I can't stick to a regular posting schedule. Lol, cya ~Papa Sasuke :P**


	5. No More Regrets pt 1

**Too Far Back**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece :**

 **After two years of back and forth with this piece, I finally finished the chapter. I can't promise anything anymore, but I really do want to finish this story. Prologue's a bit lengthy but just bare with me on this one. Real quick, the made-up devil fruit properties I mention has nothing to do with nothing. No significance, just extra info. Enjoy.**

 **Chapter 5 part 1: No More Regrets**

 **-xXx-**

 _ **Prologue**_

"Wait, Straw-Hat-ya."

Well...that plan lasted for a good three seconds.

"Ah, it's Tra-guy again!" The captain somehow remembered their brief little chat from before, and with a shout towards the newcomer with the weird facial hair, the man shrank back in surprise. Oh, how he had forgotten how it was to be around this crew.

"Are you going to help us save Usopp, Zoro, and Sanji too?" The weird dog thing bounced up to a height less than his waist with eyes too full of excitement, but at least this one wasn't as loud.

"Hold on!"

For as long as Law could remember, that phrase always signified to do the opposite of what it meant. Some say it's human instinct: you hear _stop_ , but your mind switches to _go_. You hear _shoot_ , but you hesitate. Maybe that's just the rebel's way of going about it, but, they were pirates after all. Even with this in mind, for some reason, some _stupid_ reason of his, he decided to stay. He decided to actually not move from his spot.

With those two words, it was like lightning cracked the sky, or maybe thunderstorms really were brewing, just not in the way one would think. The previous light-hearted mood was gone and there was no longer hope. No longer help. No salvation.

"Don't think I forgot; it was _your_ fault in the first place that those idiots fell into the portal."

Oh. He stopped, his eyes glazed over the orange-haired navigator as she jabbed a finger accusingly towards him. It was genuine-she really blamed him, and although he wondered what he did wrong, despite not caring, the second thought that immediately crossed his mind was put simply: _Why does this happen to me?_

"What'd you mean, Nami-san?" Brook asked from afar, standing next to Chopper, you know, in case some of that demonic presence leaked onto on him. If they thought the _Black Sorcery: Time Split_ was scary, this turn of events brought about a new fright.

" _weren't you the one who pushed them in~_ " The summoned angel whispered.

"I heard Usopp!"

Nami ignored the sweating Traffy stubbornly, but turned towards the weird Trio plus one, and she guessed Usopp's spirit, who was probably awakened for a brief moment under the influence of all the scary talk, to share her troubles. Her arms folded over her chest, "Remember what Luffy said when he marched here?"

How could they forget.

" _Don't take all my meat!"_ Franky called back with hands cupped over his mouth. After a measurable bow, the audience (Brook and Chopper) clapped for his excellent display of spot-on mimicry. No one was as good as Usopp, however.

Luffy squinted, just as lost as Law, "Oi! Someone keeps playing tricks on me! Where is it? Where's the meat?" He held a hand over his eyes while scouring the area for anyone brave enough to steal his nonexistent food. Or maybe he still just had his sights on the futuristic meat. That did sound appetizing.

"That's right." Nami broke the confusion with a gripping glare at the silent instigator (victim), "Traffy _told_ Luffy we were time traveling."

 _What_. How did meat and time travel relate back to him?

A shadow passed over Law's eyes while a bead of sweat dripped from his forehead, as if he wasn't sweating enough already. He had only told Straw Hat about the time travel so that he would get away from him. Stemming from that, the only reason he _knew_ exactly what that crew was up to was for the sheer reason of that he happened to hear it on his way back from a trip to the sea. Just an accident. An unfortunate, devastating accident. A lot of things tend to happen coincidentally, don't they?

Upon mentioning the details, Law fell into his own vortex of despairing flashbacks. "...listen-"

"And what's with your timing? You were very convenient to appear right after they fell in." Nami wasn't finished yet. The whole rest of the crew was used to seeing Nami like this, more so when Brook asked for her panties or when Sanji so helplessly continued his perverted talk, and although Law, on more unfortunate coincidences, was more than enough acquaintances with the...interesting bunch, he had hit only the tip of the iceberg on the note of really _living_ with this pirate crew.

He didn't blink, "I was taking a stroll."

"Who takes a stroll on a deserted island?" Nami shook her fist, slowly raising it as she would have no problem punching him. She's punched the others for less. And as they were positioned, she stood beside Robin, who often appears out of thin air, seemingly expressing a warm appreciation for the one-sided bickering.

And although pretty expressionless herself, Robin did feel a tad of sympathy for the unenlightened man, "Nami, we docked here two days ago because Luffy-san saw a big animal."

Nami froze; she couldn't believe Robin switched sides. Then again, maybe she could. Nami grinned nervously, waving her hand as a bead of sweat fell from her own forehead, "But he doesn't know that, Robin~."

There was no other way to describe it: Law was exasperated. _I live here...for the time being_ , his thoughts wandered, as his eyes became covered by his own mental shadow. If they were to find out that he had been staying here, living _leasurily_ … then by god they'd come back and _visit_.

"I have this."

A hefty yellow-colored fruit with large, chiseled swirls, and a dark pink stem was taken out of the inside coat pocket of the once-Warlord. The group gathered around him, curious, and unaware of his true intentions. Well, most of them were unaware. "I have no use for it anyway, so it doesn't matter to me. Use it as a starting point for what happened."

Even if the entire crew was deceived, you just couldn't fool the ladies, and Law had somewhat keen senses, so he had noted the sudden silence between him and the crew's navigator.

And as always, it was Luffy, with twinkling eyes and a dropped jaw, who was the first to exclaim, "Woah! Cool!"

"What is that?" Chopper followed, trying to lean over Luffy who was blocking his view.

"It's a Devil Fruit." Robin answered with a blatant, but knowledgeable bluntness.

"Don't change the subject!" Nami exploded, shooting Luffy, taking the place of Law, as he just so happened to be standing a good six inches away from her, a straight six feet under. Chopper turned around, puzzled and no less concerned as Luffy had disappeared, and Nami blew steam off her fist as if she didn't even notice. _Where did Luffy go?_

"Unless you don't want it." Law countered, making distinct eye-contact with the demon-navigator as if to challenge her directly, all while simultaneously reeling back the yellow devil fruit in a nonchalant manner. That got a frown out of the navigator.

Brook put a good distance between him and the fruit, as if breathing near it would affect his bones negatively. Oh...not that he had a nose to breathe with...or lungs. _Yo-ho-ho-ho-ho-_ "It seems dangerous." He allowed Franky to take his spot graciously, and the cyborg-man lifted his sunglasses with a raised frown, poking the fruit quickly to see if it would retaliate.

Chopper, side-tracked, had found this big weird hole in the ground next to Nami. This island had a ton of unusual animals, hence the reason they decided to stop here, so he wanted to use this time for a purpose. Wanting to learn more about new things and different places he's never seen, he also wanted to venture down this road of new discoveries that seemed to pull together with his path of medicine every once and awhile.

Chopper figured this hole was made by a gofer, and since he's never seen a gofer, wanted to meet it in secret, for obvious reasons. _If Luffy knew about it, he would want to eat it_. After sighing, he peered over the edge, and when he saw a flicker of movement, it was only for a brief moment that he felt his fur stand on end with little excitement. A _brief_ moment, however. The thing shot up and out of the ground, landing with an _Eup!_ , and falling backwards with a loud yelp, Chopper felt as if it was _he_ who was going to be eaten.

Luffy didn't bother to dust off, as he grabbed his straw hat, and pulled it up to reveal a cheeky smile tugging at his ears. He didn't really notice that he had almost decapitated Chopper, "Thanks, Tra-guy! I knew you were a nice guy!"

Law just wanted to leave, so he closed his eyes. He either hoped that this was just a bad dream or that since _he_ couldn't see _them_ , _they_ couldn't see _him_.

Franky furrowed his eyebrows in interest, bringing a robot hand to his robot chin while pointing with the other, "What devil fruit is that?"

He didn't know why he truly believed it would work. Law opened his eyes again, "Hm? Oh, I don't know."

Luffy knelt inquisitively next to the fruit with a hand pulled to his mouth, studying it carefully, "Let's see...ah, it's a pineapple."

"We know!"

Nami huffed, hands on her hips now, "How can you not know, Traffy?"

It was then that he once again questioned why he chose to stay and help this group. Robin took the lead here, softly smiling towards the crew, "That's the Void-Void fruit. It's a Logia class that allows the user to imitate the properties of a black hole."

Robin pointed towards the pineapple while Brook gasped, his bones chattering,

"Sounds scary…"

"Wow, you know a lot, Robin!" Chopper looked like he was going to say something else, in regards to how a pineapple could be so scary, but Luffy cut him off with drool running down his chin.

"It looks tasty! Can I eat it?"

"You'll implode; your insides will most likely be scattered across the ground in a matter of seconds."

Nami and Chopper took a couple of steps back, wincing at Robin's continuous smile, "No thank you…"

"Huh? Inside? What is that? So I can eat it?" He had gotten a couple deadpanned looks for his remark, but with a finger shoved up his nose, they didn't really know what they expected out of him.

Brook suddenly gasped, "Oh, I don't have insides."

Law didn't say anything, but turned to leave after handing Robin the devil fruit, "If you're done here, I'm leaving."

Well, Law _did_ turn to leave, Brook's _Skull Joke!_ and clapping in the background giving him more unneeded reminders of what he was going to have to deal with if he stayed, but not even one step and he already felt a ball and chain attach to his leg.

"Already? Ahh, but you just got here!" Law looked down at the face of a man who...actually, his face was in the dirt from being dragged so he didn't really know what expression Straw Hat was pulling. Arms were wrapped tightly around his leg and although he somehow felt this would happen, all he could do was widen his eyes with the instinct of panic.

Franky pushed his blue hair back with a single wipe of his hand, and now the sea urchin hair looked like an Elvis cut, "Yow, c'mon Tra-guy, stop being such a stick-in-the-mud!"

Law stared at him, "No, I have important business." And with that, he shook off Straw Hat, who plopped to the ground.

Like the inner child he was, Luffy puffed his cheeks and began to pout, "Aw-"

"Luffy," Nami turned heads as she stepped forward with a shrug, "just let him go. If he wants to chicken out on the rescue mission, then let him. Only his pride is at stake; not that important, right?" And while sticking out her tongue and with a subtle wave of her hand, she turned to Law with a knowing grin.

Law tried to redeem himself, "I'm not, I-"

"Haha! Tra-guy's a chicken!"

But he couldn't, it was too late. The crew was howling, and Nami watched with a satisfied smirk, hands on her hips again as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Even Robin had a grin on her face. Brook called with a happy _Yo-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho_ , Franky eagerly yelled _Superr~_ while striking an all-familiar, signature pose, while Luffy and Chopper clapped together with rough cackling, one demonstrating a " _Moo~_ " which was followed by a provoked hoof slap, "That's not a chicken!"

Well, if nothing else, it was almost like Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp were back with them. Law, on the other hand, didn't understand what was happening, and with darkened eyes and a gaped jaw, he didn't choose to look up either.

"They're all really childish…" Nami exhaled through her nose with a half-smile, watching the four happily chatting, each of them trading off spot-on imitations of Law while the others exchanged a heavy laugh in return.

Robin agreed, holding a similar expression, "They always lighten the mood."

In the background, Luffy, who had a drawn-on goatee and sideburns, held his fingers to his forehead to imitate pointed eyebrows. Quiet stifled giggles were heard in the back as he gritted his teeth, his eyes turning serious, "I don't like bread."

Nami twisted to Traffy with a sigh after hearing the claps and bellowing laughter behind them, "Oh, Traffy, what's wrong; you don't like being called a chicken?"

That was a rhetorical question, but she let it linger for a while for effect. Afterward, she shook her head in a sense of disbelief, "Geez, you've been involved once before; I can't believe you forgot so easily just how stupid these guys are."

"Hey!" Luffy called back, a huffed frown on his face along with that markered on goatee and sideburns.

"That's mean!" Chopper gasped, the mustache under his nose muffling the last word.

There was a moment of pause, but Brook broke it by softly turning to the others, "She's not wrong."

With a flash of light, Franky grinned, demonstrating a _super_ pose, "Did you just say _Pervert_? That's me!" And that moment of silence turned into a good minute of unspoken words with gazes deadlocked on the cyborg.

Now both Law and Nami shared exasperation, "They're idiots, but persistent; especially that one." She pointed at Luffy, who politely waved back. "I don't know why I have to remind you."

With a hand on her head, she turned to Robin for support, but Robin merely chuckled at the light-hearted bickering once again.

Law contemplated his options. He could always run, but they were on a smaller island. Water didn't really appreciate him much. And if he did that, he would be giving into their words no question. So, if he went willingly, it would be on his call, not there's. He guessed that would work, and since he already knew the location of another devil fruit, which just happened to be on the other side of this island, that would mean they would part ways faster.

He didn't dislike the crew, he just couldn't be pulled into their antics anymore. So, it was decided, "I know. Just after this leave me alone."

That was an answer they hoped for, but Luffy wasn't completely satisfied with the last part, "No."

"I'll help you find another devil fruit," Law ignored Straw Hat's reply, "but then I'm going home. I do have important business."

Chopper's face saddened, as he was going to miss Tra-guy if he left, "You always say you have important business." And that was true.

To break that sadness, Luffy thought of a great idea. Flexing his arm, he slapped his bicep with a wide grin, "Oh, you've got a home, Tra-guy? You should come live with us! Hehe, then we can fight big monsters everyday!"

Law began to sweat-

"Alright, deal." Nami eased his worries with a grin of her own… and she wasn't going to force the guy to live with them.  
Again, nothing seemed wrong with that plan. "That seems fine to me." Robin turned to Luffy, who had taken the liberty of stretching his arms in the case that they just so happened to run into giant monsters. Which, at this point, was a guarantee. "Yosh! Now-"

"Hold it! I've got a few rules to tell you all before we split up!" Nami stopped them as they began to take off.

Franky pulled back, "What's that?"

She was glad he asked. Raising her hand, she ran the list in her head before counting them off aloud, "First off! No eating the devil fruits! Got it?"

Shooting an intentional glare at Luffy, she expected some remark from him, but Brook, Franky, Chopper, and Luffy included joined in a salute for a, "Yes, ma'am," without her having to say anything else. So, they seemed to understand pretty quickly.

Nami folded her hands over chest, holding up two fingers this time, "Then second, no using the devil fruits for any other purpose besides getting those three back."

The three nodded obediently while Chopper held his salute, "Roger!"

"And then last, if the fruit is gold, give it to me. If that's the case, then we'll have to search for another devil fruit afterward."

"Okay!"

Everyone blinked once. Then twice, "Huh?"

Brook walked ahead, "Why is that, Nami-san?"

Nami clenched her fist proudly, "I'm going to sell it."

"Also… can I see your panties?"

"Never!"

Franky raised his eyebrow, "Huh? What about rule two?" He interrogated, but cautioned stepping forward, as the skeleton pulled a Luffy and returned to the earth six feet under again.

Luffy gawked in realization, "Nami, you're cheating!"

"You're putting money before Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp!" Chopper spat dramatically to the side.

Nami held a hand cupped over her ear, motioning for them to speak up, "What was that? Are you going against my rules?"

" _You're_ going against your rules!"

"Law-san, I advise that you contact us before you do anything with the devil fruit, if you do happen to find one first." Robin mentioned in a casual sense with Law beside her, both watching Nami chase the crew relentlessly in the background.

She knew, he frowned. Without looking directly at her, he reiterated his thoughts to her, "Like I said before, I have no use for another devil fruit. I'm not doing this for any of you, so don't think that I'm going to follow Straw-Hat-ya as my leader for this assignment."

With a sweep of his leg, Franky tripped Brook, who landed softly, but it was only when he landed five seconds later had he realized what had happened. Chopper called back with a sniffle, "We'll come back for you!" and left helplessly behind, while gaping in shock, Brook desperately clawed himself further, refusing to accept his fate as a sacrifice.

"Assignment?" Robin continued, eventually shifting her inscrutable gaze over to Law with that enigmatic smile.

Law turned away from her, pretending to shift his attention back to the Straw Hats, whom of which one seemed to be missing, as his face turned a tint red. "You know what I mean."

"Alright!" Nami finally clasped her hands together and waited for the crew to re-gather around her. As they were being slow, whether it was out of fear or not, it was hard for her not to punch them. "Don't forget the rules!" She pointed, and Luffy took off, "We can split off by ourselves to cover more ground…"

"Last one there is a-"

" _except_ for Luffy!"

He screeched to a halt, "Why? I'll find the pineapple first!"

He had begun to pout again, and Nami faced him with an equal drive, "No; you're probably just as bad as Zoro, and we'd never see you again if you went off on your own. So Traffy, you can be his partner. Stick together, don't go off the island, and don't do anything too stupid. I'm talking to you, Luffy."

Tra-guy hadn't been really listening to what she had been saying prior, but the last part caught both his and Luffy's attention… and not in a good way. His eyes widened, "Wai-"

"Ahaha! Let's go get my crew, Tra-guy! It'll be fun!" Luffy had already taken Law by the arm, and with a spring in his step, whether he liked it or not, Luffy began dragging the hostage on the ground towards the forest.

With an unforgiving, deadpan stare, he locked eyes with the wicked navigator, "I never agreed to this." He relayed, while sitting cross-legged on the ground, yet disrupting the dirt as Luffy was pulling him along like a suitcase.

Nami smiled after him, "You never had to. I agreed to it for you."

"That's-"

"Have a fun trip!" She waved after him as Robin, with the devil fruit in hand, pulled up beside her. Oh, what a sight. Well, it was his fault that they had to go on a wild goose chase to find three guys who knew the exact opposite of standing still.

Franky swung around to face Luffy, who wasn't too far away, feeling a sudden obligation in his pride as a shipwright to state a challenge. "I'll be the first one to find a devil fruit!" He called after Luffy, hands cupped over his mouth.

What? _He_ was gonna get it first! Luffy paused, dropping Law, who spit out in surprise, "Ah, Franky! I'm gonna find it!" Luffy held a fist up in state of their challenge, but forgot that it was that fist that had held up the prisoner. Yep, when he let go, he had dropped Law's head on a jutting rock.

Franky held up his sunglasses, a broad smirk lighting his face, "Alright, then! Let's have a race! Winner gets to be captain of the ship."

A glint of seriousness was shown in Luffy's eyes, but he had forgotten that when he had said, "Deal," and shook hands, what he was making a deal for.

Chopper didn't think Luffy was _this_ dense, "You're already captain, stupid!"

"Remember to call everyone-" Nami had started, but broke off her words, narrowing her eyes as no one was no longer there. She could hear them in the background, however, with the, " _Ahh! Usopp?"_ and " _That's not him!"_ but that didn't mean they could hear her.

As they drew further away, the voices became quieter, " _Usopp's cousin?"_

" _It's a monkey!"_

"They're gone already." Robin pointed out, dropping her arms to her side.  
With a hand to her head and a heavy sigh, Nami shrugged her shoulders, "This isn't a race, I don't know what they're doing."

"It depends on where in time you sent those three, Nami. Then it could be a race." Nami paused, glancing at Robin for a brief, hasty second before waving her hand in dismissal, jokingly. "Well, knowing our luck, we probably sent them into some battle or an all-out war."

Robin looked up at the sky once, as if it were to start raining soon, but instead, she turned her head back to the grass that lay before them and the forest in which their crew plus Law had entered, "Probably."

And with a final remark, both Robin and her began to head into the forest together. If they were to eventually save the stupid three from whatever mess they got themselves into, then they'd really need whatever god or being was out there to help them out with this one. "It was finally nice to get the Navy off our back too. Well, whatever battle it is, I just hope they didn't get sent to the future. Otherwise, I think they can handle it."

 _ **-End Prologue-**_

 **-xXx-**

"Uh, I don't think we can handle this." Buggy gulped, and this time, he was serious.

The cloaked figure was suddenly revealed when, if almost on que, a gust of breeze blew the smoke towards the sea. With their similar appearance, the crew almost suspected the enemy white-haired captain and his sidekick female swordsman, but it was a different kind of surprise when instead, they got an indifferent player joining the scene. Crocodile stood still with narrowed eyes, almost as if he was waiting, even _daring_ the Straw Hat team to lunge at him. And although he came intending no harm yet, the aggressive frown paired with the half-lit cigar that hung loosely from his cracked lips gave off a different, and not so friendly impression.

Sanji was the first to scowl at the sight of the ragged boulder-of-a-man, remembering only his beloved Vivi in the heat of the moment. "Crocodile, you bastard. I thought you bit the dust in Alabasta!"

"Wait, Sanji-kun; he's on our side!" Jimbei had cut in front of him almost instinctively, cautiously blocking both parties with his hand.

While Zoro drew his Kitetsu to his left side and Luffy's eyes glazed over Mr. 0 with no reaction at all, behind Sanji stood Buggy, who believed for a good minute that the end of his time had finally come. "Ah, what's with that! You scared me, coming out of the smoke with that big scary face! You're supposed to smile at your allies, dumbass!" Buggy whisked forward, curling up the sides of Crocodile's mouth to mock a smile, only to pull one of the greatest disappearing acts Marineford's ever seen. And this one was almost as great as Zoro and Sanji's when they fell into the portal.

Crocodile grunted and launched Buggy like a plane towards the visible sun on the other side of the island, all while biting on his cigar, "I didn't come to help, I just wanted to teach these Navy bastards what happens when they mess with me."

He was initially going to challenge the Old Man with Mr. 1, but ever since Straw Hat's crew popped out of thin air, Marineford's been in more chaos than was necessary, and Sengoku knew that most of all. Crocodile didn't want to admit it, but if he attacked now, then the whole sea would be on his back again. And that would just make the future difficult and more so, annoying.

"Are you on our side now? Don't slow me down." Luffy butted into his thoughts, and Zoro gave his captain a side glance. The hostility was still there, but this wasn't the place and time to fight if they didn't have to, everyone knew that. However, this talk was getting irritating.

"I don't have a side. Get a move on; you're annoying and I don't want you interfering." His eyes darkened, "If you do, I'll kill you."

"I hate Warlords…" Buggy called from the back, where, no one knew. Luffy didn't nod towards Crocodile or dip his head in gratitude, but just continued to trudge forward along with his loyal nakama towards Ace's inevitable doom staged upon the cursed platform.

The battlefield was scattered. Lower ranking Marines and pirates swamped each other in shouts and blind fury, as the manpower was more-so equal in terms of standings. Marco and Jozu were holding their own but slipping gradually against the power that Aokiji and Kizaru brought to the table. Ivankov was near the water, more one-sidedly on the high defensive against the expressionless, towering bear-man, Kuma, who could shoot beams out of his mouth. Vista and Mihawk, of course, continued to display a graceful yet destructive art of the sword, growing in understanding of the other each time they crossed blades. From what could be seen, Whitebeard stood tall on his ship, his wise, aged yet proud eyes challenging his respected rival, the one and only Marine Fleet Admiral that stood on the opposite end with the same perception in his heart, rather than in his expression. Warlords dominated the area, their overwhelming power overtaking the poor pirates whose only fighting ability resting in their intense battle spirit to win back the family that they've lost. And although everything seemed to whisk by like that plane that just flew past, for Ace, time seemed to stand still when he watched his friends, his family, and his brother fight for him, undeserving, on this never-ending battlefield. Now, back to the Straw Hat nakama who, although believe that they're headed in the faithful direction, don't make it a few more steps without a sudden, yet foreseen, roadblock.

"I'm impressed you got out, Crocodile-man."A feathered man, more inhuman than not, sat bent on a broken rock, his crooked smile softly laminating his intentions more so than he believed, as his hands hung lifelessly over his knees.

"Doflamingo!" Jimbei took a step back, almost naturally rather than in mind, as the other three nearby did the same, but rather took a step forward, on instinct, drawing swords, cocking fists, and raising legs.

A loud sound came from the back and there, among some torn-out rubble, was Buggy, who had helplessly clawed himself out of some wall remains in which he was propelled into, "Another one!"

A thought came to the mind of Zoro, or well, it was more of a memory than a thought. This guy, who's got the roots of a killer and the face of a madman, stood in front of them, still alive, breathing, and still untouched. The world was cruel that way, where it gave power to the evil and took life itself from the innocent, or the way the world would see it, the _unworthy_. Ah, but this was a different timeline. Things can be mixed up a little differently with a little bit of work. Zoro readied all three swords once again, that demonic flare in his eyes showing itself among the ashes, rising once again, "This bastard again."

"A pink bird!"

You can guess who said that one.

Doflamingo's smile faded instantaneously, and now, his hands were off his knees and pulled to his side, eyes locked on Crocodile.

All this while, Sanji hadn't said a word to Doflamingo, but he didn't have to. Crocodile was a special case, but this guy was a cold-blooded piece of shit to the core. Instead, with a flash, he leaped forward, quickly spinning in a fiery flame with that Marimo's blue fire on standby in the rear. The kick was aimed to the head, but maybe that was too obvious. Mingo swept his arm up for a light-hearted block, but side-stepped the kick entirely.

With a heavy, but cheerful sigh, and the encouragement that he felt from Sanji's disappointed grunt in aggravation, Mingo chuckled, his smile once again tickling his ears, "Wooh, that was a close one."

Crocodile grunted, also in disappointment and aggravation towards the kick not hitting its mark. He looked over at the ugly bird-bastard, and even with all the noise and disorder encompassing them, for some reason, it seemed like only the two of them were standing there on the cracked cement.

Mingo raised his smirk and his eyes, "And now you're teaming up with Straw Hat, no less? Interesting, I thought you were a lone wolf."

"I don't team up with anyone." Crocodile retorted, and Luffy didn't seem to mind, as his ears were more pointed towards the platform then anywhere else. Zoro and Sanji sharply caught his eye as Crocodile stood his ground, towering and vexed to the point of combat, drops of sand beginning to melt like lava off his fur coat.

Pirates began to levitate off the ground, their distressed yells catching the attention of other surrounding members from both sides. What was going on? Luffy didn't stick around to find out, or rather, he didn't even know what was happening. Zoro and Sanji left the threat of a past, or rather, future problem to the hands of Crocodile, whom of which they didn't like much either. And with Jimbei at their side, the four of them, with eyes on the prize and no time for side quests, raced against the clock towards that platform that stood beyond the walls.

Doflamingo ignored the running pirates, his crooked smile fading only just enough to the point that you couldn't mistake the grin for a mask anymore. "Seeing that is enough to make a guy jealous, you know." He answered.

Crocodile watched the floating pirates without care and then scoffed towards Doflamingo once more. Wow, he hated this bastard, "Then don't look."

 **-xXx-**

"Take him down!"

Sengoku was furious, and his patience was running thin. Where the hell did this kid come from? And how the hell were they, the Navy, by all standards, _losing_? The war wasn't over, but even a child could see that the pirates played the better hand, accidental though it may be. How disrespectful it would be to lose a battle you had instigated, let alone a battle fought on the grounds of your own headquarters. Like hell; he would not allow this sanction to fall so long as he still stood on his own two legs.

With a glance over to Ace, who hung lifelessly in shackles, Sengoku grit his teeth before settling his eyes on Garp. Both Ace and Garp held the same expression; no longer were they surprised-they were agitated, inflamed, _incensed_ at the simple idea that this young boy had the nerve to come and join in a fight that had no concern of his. Sengoku couldn't rely on Garp, but he had to be careful in the instance that Ace attempted to struggle against fate. Although he had purposefully leaked false information regarding the advancement of Ace's execution, it looked as though they might have to truly act upon this word. Not only that, but the Final Phase would forcibly be put in motion.

Sengoku watched in bitterness as, at his call, a Vice Admiral had effectively knocked back Straw Hat's group with a large, spiked bat, sending them a ways from the wall in which they had so desperately attempted to reach. The new characters that had come out of the portal had shown a display of great strength, much to Sengoku's displeasure, specifically against Kizaru and Kuzan, although blocking was nothing special. He had to account for their hidden power as well as abilities that have yet to be shown, but with what he's seen so far, it was possible that these two magician pirates were nearly equivalent to that of a Navy Admiral. So, Whitebeard had managed to pull two Admirals to his side? How, not that now was the time to sit and be thinking logically. It would be tough; with them intertwined, he would have to rethink his strategy.

Sengoku's plan was disrupted, but his mind still stood strong. He didn't have a scratch on him, but yet he felt the need to take a step back. By thinking, he grew smarter, and by watching, he grew wiser. By acting, he retained and applied as in by leading, he learned more in himself. His Marines fought valiantly against the pirates, that he could say. As such, he would do as much as he, himself, could, utilizing all these experiences to give not only victory, but an overwhelming victory to the Marines who have placed their faith and trust in him. They still had the Admirals, wherever they were, they still had the Warlords, and all of those who stood to fight for the good cause, battered though they may be, they were alive! This wasn't optimism, no, this was undenying fact.

With the Pacifistas in their back pocket, they had a chance, and they would take that chance soon...and, yes, from recent agreements and a grudging contract, they even had... _them_. To say they were the secret weapon was an understatement, because as this realistic senile old man had thought, truthfully, this secret weapon of the Navy's might just end up taking them all to hell.

"Gomu-gomu no Stamp!"

Luffy, with a thin stream of blood running from his temple, blew over six Marines with a single swing of his leg, Zoro and Sanji in a close second as they covered the boy's left and right, Jimbei last, but probably the most important piece, as he guarded the rear.

"Slice 'em! You've got swords too! Go for his head!"

"I'd watch your own head first before you go worrying about mine."

Not even a blink of an eye and the swordsman had cut up the Navy captain with a sheer flick of his wrist. While preoccupied with that, the cook had instantaneously swept up from behind his crewmate, sharply deflecting an aimed arrow that had been intended for the neck of the swordsman.

"Keep your own head attached before you go acting all cool, moron Moss-head."

Sengoku was getting sidetracked. He needed to think of a way to exhilarate his soldiers, to spark their spirit once more and to push them beyond the limits that they've already surpassed. He had an idea, but it would cause disarray for the public as well. If he was going to act, he was going to have to do it soon.

All the while, through the decisions Sengoku faced due to the grit that Luffy and friends offered, Ace had to face his own turmoil: the possibility of losing his younger brother. Nevermind him, why was it that Luffy always found a way to encounter trouble wherever he went? Or maybe that was him. He didn't know anymore. His head felt as though it was already split open, yet when looking at that idiot, blindly charging his way through the crowd, he felt his heart beat faster out of panic, and it was only then that he recognized that he was still alive. Wasn't it enough that the Old Man, Marco, and the others were already risking their lives for him, but now Luffy was involved? Ace shook his head, clenching his teeth with his eyes shut tightly. He couldn't think straight.

"There's no end to them!"

Ace opened his eyes again, maybe for the last time, he didn't know. Luffy had brought two of his crewmates to help with the rescue, he recognized the green hair and twirly eyebrows from Alabasta, and from watching them closely for over thirty minutes, he could say with certainty that they were strong. They were _really_ strong.

However…

"Luffy!"

They were being pushed back.

"Get it together!"

"You've got us, Luffy-kun!"

"Remember why you're here, idiot!"

Luffy was strong, but not as strong as the other two that had walked out of that zipped-open black hole. He wasn't as strong as the ice Admiral, Kizaru, or Akainu, and most Warlords had the upper-hand on him too. Sure, Luffy had perseverance like no other and was relentlessly stubborn, he would know, but you can't win a war with sheer will-power. And this idiot came here, knowing that? What would happen if the two crewmates protecting him were stuck with a bigger threat and he was left alone? Luffy was capable, but how capable could you be against a Fleet Admiral, three Navy Admirals, five Warlords, and the entire Navy? Not even the Old Man could last long by himself; that's why everyone else is here.

Ace watched in horror as his fears became reality; Luffy was being overwhelmed. He was tired, and with blood dripping on the left side of his face and both fists as well as body battered, it wasn't too hard to tell. Yet he still hooked both arms, swung both legs, and even used his head if he had too.

"Luffy…" Ace stuttered to himself. As long as Luffy could move, he would fight. For all of them-even half-dead, they would see this through to the end. This was his fault. If only he wasn't so sloppy and reckless. He already dragged the Old Man's crew along with the Subordinate crews into this; he wasn't letting Luffy and his friends suffer the same fate. He was sick of it all. No way would he let his stupid kid brother fall victim under his carelessness.

"Stay away, Luffy!"

His plea rang out among most of Marineford. Whether out of curiosity or annoyance, many had ceased fighting to stare up at the desperate, chained man with wild eyes. Crocodile and Doflamingo halted mid-punch while Ivankov paused briefly, only to be singed once again by a blast from his former Revolutionary army friend. Mihawk and Vista tore their eyes from each other for the first time since they crossed swords, and even both bruised Admirals and the two tired Division commanders took a breather to hear what Ace had to say. The only one who didn't stop was Luffy. He continued forward, without a second's notice, his hands falling on the head of a surprised Marine, while his eyes switched constantly from enemy to Ace. With Marines cornering Luffy on all sides, Zoro and Sanji stood back to back with their captain, flinging away any who lunged within a fifteen feet radius of them. Jimbei was on the offensive, leading side by side next to Luffy who missed a round kick, in which he paid the price for, as he was sent to the ground with his opponent's next attack.

Ace couldn't stand it anymore, and with a desperate cry, he exclaimed, "I know that you know it! We're both pirates-we knew the risks, but we sailed on our terms anyway! We signed our lives away the moment we first took to the sea as free men!" He clenched his teeth as he felt the stares of his friends, his family, watching him with such sad expressions.

"I don't have regrets! I have my own adventure! I have my own friends!"

"Ace…" Marco frowned onward with lowered eyes, as his friend, his brother, sat so helplessly on the platform, yet shook the battlefield.

"I traveled by my rules, and the world didn't like that! I've already accepted my fate, and you have no right to interfere with that! Do you think I'd let someone as weak as you rescue me? That would be too embarrassing! You're already an idiot for coming here, so leave! Go back, Luffy! Why did you come here?" His words were doused in a vehement outrage, but he truly just didn't want to see his brother get killed. He hung his head, trembling quietly to himself, _Please, Luffy, I beg you!_

"I'm…"

Ace looked up, and there, standing amongst the rubble and fallen soldiers that surrounded him, was Luffy, who, with a fist in the air and fire in his eyes, answered his call.

"your brother!"

"His brother?"

Gasps filled the area and even Sengoku's eyes widened at this revealment. So, he didn't have to do it after all. They were all confused, but most of all, it was the Marines who had a harder time of processing it.

"There's two of them?" They looked at each other.

"That shouldn't be possible!"

Taking advantage of the disarray, Luffy powered through past the startled Marines, "Gomu-gomu no...Whip!"

"What are you doing? Don't let a rookie take control of this war!" Sengoku shot his hand forward and a giant Marine commander with a beard followed his signal, stomping ahead with a large green sword in tow.

"Outta the way!"

He brought the sword down with a clean swipe and a heavy grunt, but Zoro had managed to sidestep in front of Luffy, blocking the giant's strike with his own sword, Kitetsu. In turn, Luffy retook the lead, cocking his fist, "Gear third!"

With that, his fist grew to be as big as the giant's head in no time at all, and being as slow as the giant was for his size, all the commander could do now was watch. "Gomu-gomu no…" Luffy shot towards him, introducing his fist to the giant's face with a shout, "Rifle!"

The impact was heard by those nearby, and the giant was thrown backwards, unbalanced by the blow. After falling for five seconds, he landed near the wall unconscious, and had no chance of getting back up again.

Sengoku watched this all unfold with an indifferent presence about him. He was no longer outrightly infuriated, as now, composed and seeming unconcerned, he sought out with an open ear and eye for a chance or an opening on this battlefield. While glazing over his troops, Luffy met him eye-to-eye with a fearsome look that no doubt, was meant in provoking him to fire something else. The look was that of a boy who knew not of this world, and his naivety was to be shut down now. Sengoku met the boy with the same look, "Monkey D. Luffy-he's also a loose cannon! He grew up together with Ace as his step-brother, and he's the biological son of the revolutionary, Dragon!"

He said it, and now, more stopped.

An older Marine tipped his cap to reveal his distraught expression, "The revolutionary Dragon?"

"Are you serious?" Someone else gawked.

"Who's that?"

"Are you an idiot, Todd?"

A man with a scar on his arm looked about him, "The worst criminal in history?"

"Tch." Sanji blew a puff out of his cigarette, hands in his pocket, as he swung down a Marine that had attempted to attack him from behind. So that's how they found out, huh?

Zoro gazed beyond Luffy with impassive eyes, as Luffy continued to kick, punch, and bite his way through the army of Marines that blocked his path. One was to be judged based on their own actions, not on those of someone from the past, but this was interesting.

"I knew this was a bad idea!" Near the water, Mr. 3 held Buggy in his arms as Buggy sobbed a great deal next to him.

"His daddy's name rings a lot of warning bells!"

Helmeppo peered over the far concrete with a shiver in his voice, "Is that really true?" while Coby inwardly groaned for his ousted friend, "Luffy-san…"

"Knowing you're the son of the devil doesn't make me love you any less." Hancock held a hand to her cheek as she fantasized about him once again.

Jimbei, startled, held his position near Sanji, "That's new information."

All the while, Smoker sent his seething anger through a punch that a pirate just so happened to be in the way of, as his thoughts were finally coming together, "Now it all makes sense." He backfisted a shorter pirate while Tashigi held her own with both hands clutching her sword. Smoker looked on at Straw Hat in disdain, "That explains what happened in Loguetown. So that's why Dragon saved Straw Hat."

With mixed emotions from both the Warlords, pirates, and Navy alike, we now switch to the public, whom of which was merely watching from a television screen hosted by one of Buggy's special companions, unbeknownst to that companion of course. The bald pirate that held the transponder snail had forgotten about it, as now it was held in one hand absent-mindedly while the others around him held the fort for their Captain Buggy. However, even if Marineford had forgotten about the transponder snail, the public, on the contrary, did not.

Saobody was shocked, murmuring amongst themselves what this could mean for them, the citizens.

"This is huge news!" The blond news reporter gasped, motioning for his partner to get him a line, "Headquarters, get me headquarters! We've got to tell the world!"

"Kizaru! Kuzan! Man your posts!" Sengoku rang out among the chaos and both Admirals halted in their pursuit of Marco and Jozu, all four surprised, for the two pirates dropped their fists.

With Sakazuki nowhere to be found, and the plan gone to pieces, Sengoku had to rethink, and to do that, he had to pull his knights back. They wouldn't get anywhere if they happened to be worn down already.

Aokiji and Kizaru found themselves back near the platform, avoiding all of the unnecessary fire, and sitting back in their chairs as if the war hadn't even begun yet.

"What's the deal, Sengoku-san?" Kizaru was interested, and turned to Sengoku with an inquisitive brow.

And he was answered, "It's just one thing after another. If their objective is to free Ace, then let's make it as difficult as possible and have two Admirals take guard."

Kizaru brought a finger to his chin in a thin understanding, "Don't they have the upper-hand now? That would make it easier for them to win, no?"

This wasn't chance that Sengoku was taking, but he wasn't sure if he had a strategy either, "We'll find out."

"We can't let him leave this place in one piece!" The Marines, coming to a collective, unanimous agreement, charged for Luffy more rigorously now with a new reason to defeat the boy that wandered onto the battleground.

Garp was broken, feeling as though he was the one in shackled chains. "There was no reason to keep it a secret anyway." He admitted grudgingly, since they were just going to find out sooner or later. Somehow, Sengoku had a knack for digging up disclosed info like that. His eyes glittered with a sadness recognized by those who have lost a child-if only he had forced Luffy and Ace to be Marines instead of rebel pirates, if only, then he could have saved them. Now, here they were, one on the execution platform while the other was next in line at the rate this was playing out. And what could he do? He was their enemy, and to answer the question, he could do nothing. He squinted, as though he had been struck in the abdomen with a spear, _Those idiots_. "You brothers are matching fools."

Luffy felt the straps on his sandals loosen with each step he took towards the wall. He had felt more confident with Zoro, Sanji, and Jimbei at his side, but now Ace was spouting all this nonsense about the rules of the sea. Like he cared! Why should he give a damn about them? He was a pirate, and so was Ace! If Ace didn't want to be saved, then he would just drag him to the ship by his chains if he had to. Because that was fine by him!

"ACE!"

Ace slowly looked up from the cracked ground, his eyes wavering as they reached Luffy once again.  
"I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU SAY!"

Ace flinched, but, well, what could he expect. What did he expect? This was Luffy they were talking about. If he had his mind on something to do, then even if all hell broke loose, he was going to do it. Damn it, Luffy!

"I'M GONNA GET YOU OUT OF HERE EVEN IF IT MEANS DEATH!"

A spontaneous uproar ensued from the pirate side, all cheering and howling for Ace's brother and his display of true, heartfelt brotherhood.

Sengoku was absolutely speechless with these outright declarations, a bead of sweat running down his face, and in spite of the boy's clear simplicity, he was generally flabbergasted, "He thinks he can take on the whole Navy?"

"That idiot!" Garp recoiled, his eyes dropping with the despair that he had been enticed in before.

So, while it was Sengoku's plan to fire up the Marines, it seemed as though the pirates were the ones who ended up benefitting from that call instead.

One of the Division commanders pumped a fist, "We got your back, Ace's brother!"

"We're Ace's family too!"

"We're gonna save him no matter what!"  
Just as the Whitebeard pirates were impassioned, Whitebeard, himself, grinned at the boy's dynamism, "Marco, we can't let that kid die."

Rolling up with a bloodied left arm in which he clutched with his right, Marco smirked with a cracked grin, "Roger that."

Near the middle of Marineford stood the remainder of the Straw Hat crew in a straight line, Luffy in the front by a few feet with Jimbei, Zoro, and Sanji behind him. "And he's got us, so we'll make sure we get Ace back. No way I'm letting that happen again." Sanji tilted his head, the falling light from the sun dimming his shadow.

Zoro turned to him, in an accord for once, "Yeah. The sea's going to be different this time around."

Ace could only watch in exasperation. He wasn't sure what was going to happen, no one was, but there was one thing he did know for sure-Luffy wasn't going to die that easily. He had accepted his fate as just another dead pirate in this never-ending, unforgiving sea, but now he felt a little differently. He didn't want to die. He still had people he wanted to see, places he wanted to go… and if he couldn't even rely on his family, and his own brother, then who could he rely on? And so, with a bow of his head, and through grated teeth, he whispered silently, "Luffy."

 **-xXx-**

 **This chapter's two parts. Figured better to put it out in smaller chunks than a hunk of words. I've got the skeleton for part two, and have this entire awesome layout for the whole story, just actually gotta write the damn thing because man, this took a while. Part one's got a more serious tone, but part two'll have that comedic nature exclusive to the Straw Hats (Ussop makes an appearance too).**

 **Anyway, it's been two years, but feel free to review; I still look back on them for ideas, and constructive criticism, I'll gladly take. I'd like to again thank everyone for sticking around with me after all this time, and for favoriting, following, and reviewing: gives me that booster to complete these chapters :). ~Papa Sasuke**


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